After 15 minutes of chaos, umpire Bill Klem ruled the game forfeited to Philadelphia. “It was as much a disgrace to the city as it is to the national game,” observed the New York Evening Journal.1

It was unclear whether the contest would even begin. A snowstorm had blanketed the ballpark in 6 inches of snow, and the day before the game a large crew worked arduously to remove it.2 The snow was shoveled into wheelbarrows and trucks and thousands of loads were dumped into the Harlem River.3 Several “mountainous heaps of snow” were left along the edges of the field.4

Although Opening Day temperatures rose to 52 degrees Fahrenheit,5 many fans stayed away, doubting that the field would be playable.6 As it happened, the playing surface was in remarkably good shape except for the outfield grass, which was a little soggy.7 A hardy crowd of 17,000 turned out, filling the seats and leaving roughly 1,000 people standing behind ropes on the field.8

Unlike its previous two home openers, New York did not have a new National League pennant to raise. The Giants had finished 20 games behind the 116-win Chicago Cubs, and it seemed doubtful that New York would reclaim the pennant in 1907, especially since star outfielder Turkey Mike Donlin was a contract holdout.9 The Cubs began the season as the favorites to repeat as NL champions.10

Giants manager John McGraw was sick in bed with the flu, so he handed the managerial reins to first baseman Dan McGann.11

To the disappointment of many Giants fans, Christy Mathewson did not start for New York.12 That honor went to Joe McGinnity, who had posted a 2.25 ERA in 1906 and led the NL in wins (27) and appearances (45). The 36-year-old right-hander was making his third and final Opening Day start.13

The Phillies had finished fourth in 1906, 45½ games behind the Cubs. Twenty-six-year-old righty Frank Corridon was Philadelphia’s Opening Day starter, back with the Phillies after a one-year stint in the outlaw Tri-State League.14 He entered the game with a 21-22 record and a 3.08 ERA in his major-league career.

The game’s first batter, Phillies center fielder Roy Thomas, doubled off McGinnity. Second baseman Kid Gleason, beginning his 20th big-league season at age 41, sacrificed Thomas to third.15 One out later, 22-year-old sensation Sherry Magee blasted a triple to right-center field, scoring Thomas. According to the New York Sun, Magee’s hit would have likely rolled for an inside-the-park homer on a dry outfield.16

Despite having plenty of baserunners in the first three innings, the Giants were unable to push across a run. Corridon walked the bases full in the first inning, issued two more free passes in the second, and allowed another walk and a clean single by center fielder Cy Seymour in the third.17 It turned out to be New York’s only hit of the game.

McGinnity breezed through the second and third innings. He surrendered a pair of harmless singles in the fourth,18 but the Phillies began to pull away in the next two innings. Back-to-back singles by shortstop Mickey Doolin and catcher Fred Jacklitsch opened the Philadelphia fifth, putting runners on the corners. Doolin scored on Corridon’s groundout for a 2-0 lead.

In the sixth, McGinnity surrendered singles to right fielder John Titus and Magee. Kitty Bransfield’s bunt single filled the bases with no outs. After Titus scored on Ernie Courtney’s fly ball, Doolin threatened to blow the game wide open. He drove a liner deep into the right-center-field gap, only to have Seymour make a running, leaping grab.19 Seymour fired the ball into second base, doubling up Bransfield before he could get back to the bag. The Giants were fortunate to escape the inning with just a three-run deficit.

With two outs in the seventh, McGann sent in on-base machine Sammy Strang to pinch-hit for McGinnity.20 Strang made the final out of the inning and soon after, the first signs of trouble surfaced. Some fans in the bleachers headed for home, but instead of walking along a narrow promenade at the base of the stands, they took a shortcut across the field.21 The 33-year-old Klem, working the game solo and with just two years of big-league experience, was jeered by the crowd for pausing the contest until everyone left the playing surface or retreated behind the ropes.22

Righty Red Ames took over from McGinnity in the eighth. He tossed a scoreless inning, allowing a walk and a single to Magee.23 The hit capped a 4-for-4 day at the plate for Magee, who went on to hit .328 and finish second in the batting race behind Honus Wagner.24

Giants left fielder Spike Shannon led off the bottom of the eighth with a walk and was sacrificed to second. One out later, Corridon issued his eighth free pass, this one to Seymour.25 Catcher Roger Bresnahan, 0-for-2 with a walk in the game, came to the plate representing the potential tying run. Bresnahan had created a “sensation” in the first inning when the crowd saw him wearing shin guards for the first time.26 He hit a grounder to Gleason, ending the inning.27

More bleacherites decided it was time to exit and took the same shortcut across the field. Within five minutes, roughly 10,000 fans were on the playing surface. Some shook hands with the players, while others shouted insults in their direction.28

In previous seasons, dozens of police officers would have been in the ballpark to prevent such a situation.29 But this was the first game played under recent orders from Police Commissioner Theodore A. Bingham: The NYPD was no longer to provide protection inside private places of amusement. Promoters were now expected to hire special officers at their own expense.30

The only security staff inside the ballpark appeared to be the two officers stationed with a police ambulance in the outfield and they declined to intervene.31 “Yet,” according to the New York American, “there were 75 or 100 big, bulbous policemen strung along outside the gates, twirling their clubs in idleness.”32

Someone in the grandstand threw a seat cushion at the fans on the field and soon a flurry of cushions followed.33 The cushions were sent flying back into the stands.34 Approximately 50 people pelted fans on the field with snowballs, while a few others tossed beer glasses.35 A handful of officers entered the ballpark and attempted to clear the field, but they were no match for the multitudes.36

Klem gave the Giants 15 minutes to clear the field and pulled out his watch. The moment the time expired, he announced a forfeit.37 Surprisingly, the fans did not protest, and they eventually filed out of the ballpark quietly.38 Just two arrests were made for disorderly conduct.39

In response to the incident, the Giants built a six-foot-high chicken-wire fence in front of the bleachers to prevent people from getting onto the field.40 They also hired a few Pinkerton agents to help keep the peace,41 with mixed results. Similar disorderly incidents occurred at a Giants home game on May 21 and at a New York Highlanders doubleheader at Hilltop Park on July 4.42

The Giants recovered from the Opening Day debacle and won 24 of their next 26 games before a pitching slump brought them back to earth. They went 4-11 during the cold spell, culminating with a costly three-game sweep at the hands of the juggernaut Cubs in early June. McGraw’s men never recovered and they finished in fourth place with an 82-71-2 record, 25½ games behind the eventual World Series champion Cubs. The upstart Phillies ended the season four games ahead of the Giants and in third place.

Klem went on to have a distinguished 37-year career as an NL umpire. He officiated in 18 World Series and was appointed chief of NL umpires in 1941, a position he held until his death in 1951.

Two years before he died, the New York Chapter of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America organized a testimonial luncheon, followed by Bill Klem Night at the Polo Grounds.43 Seventy-five baseball men were in attendance at the luncheon, including Brooklyn Dodgers manager Burt Shotton, Cincinnati Reds skipper Bucky Walters, and NL President Ford Frick.

Klem was deeply touched by the tribute.44 That evening, New Yorkers stood and cheered Klem, who, like many other arbiters, had not always been popular at Coogan’s Bluff.45 “This is the greatest day of my life,” he said. “This tribute tells me I made good.”46

Klem was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1953.

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Kurt Blumenau and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com, Retrosheet.org, Stathead.com, and the SABR biographies of Bill Klem, Christy Mathewson, Roger Bresnahan, and Frank Corridon. Unless otherwise noted, all play-by-play information was taken from the article “New Yorkers Are Helpless Before Corridon, While Phillies Find McGinnity and Ames Easily” on page 1 of the April 12, 1907, edition of the Philadelphia Inquirer.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NY1/NY1190704110.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1907/B04110NY11907.htm

Photo credit

Photo of Bill Klem courtesy the Detroit Public Library.

Notes

1 Sam Crane, “Giants Face Phillies in Season’s Second Battle,” New York Evening Journal, April 12, 1907: 24.

2 “Phillies Play Giants in Opening Game,” Philadelphia Inquirer, April 11, 1907: 10.

3 “Giants in First Battle for Pennant To-Day,” New York American, April 11, 1907: 10; “Phillies Play Giants in Opening Game.”

4 “No Police; Game Stopped,” New York Sun, April 12, 1907: 7.

5 Fifty-two degrees Fahrenheit is equivalent to 11 degrees Celsius. “The Weather Report,” New York Daily Tribune, April 12, 1907: 7.

6 The home opener in 1906 attracted 20,000 fans. “No Police; Game Stopped.”

7 “Giants Forfeit Game,” New York Tribune, April 12, 1907: 5.

8 “Baseball Crowd Causes Forfeit,” New York Times, April 12, 1907: 10. The author deduced that there were approximately 1,000 fans behind the ropes on the field. According to the Ballparks Database at Seamheads.com, the seating capacity at the Polo Grounds was 16,000 and attendance was 17,000.

9 Donlin sat out the entire 1907 season and performed on the vaudeville circuit with his wife. He returned to the Giants in 1908.

10 “Present Form of Clubs in Pennant Races,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, April 11, 1907: 15.

11 McGraw was well enough to manage the Giants’ second game of the season on April 15. Crane, “Giants Face Phillies in Season’s Second Battle”; “Baseball Crowd Causes Forfeit”; Bozeman Bulger, “Special Police and Barbed Wire Hold Rooters Off the Diamond,” New York Evening World, April 15, 1907: 1.

12 Mathewson contracted diphtheria in the spring of 1906 and went on to have the worst full season up to that point in his career. He posted a 2.97 ERA (89 ERA+), a huge jump from his 1.28 ERA (233 ERA+) in 1905. “Doings in the Major Leagues,” New York Evening World, April 9, 1907: 12.

13 McGinnity won his Opening Day start in 1901 for the American League’s Baltimore Orioles and in 1905 for the Giants. He had the worst season of his career in 1907. McGinnity went 18-18 with a bloated 3.16 ERA (79 ERA+). He finished his big-league career in 1908 and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1946.

14 Corridon went 22-12 for the Williamsport (Pennsylvania) Millionaires in 1906.

15 Gleason had played for the New York Giants from 1896 to 1900. He had a career year in 1897, hitting .317 and driving in 106 runs.

16 “No Police; Game Stopped.”

17 “Baseball Crowd Causes Forfeit.”

18 “No Police; Game Stopped.”

19 Langdon Smith, “Unruly Mob Forces Giants to Forfeit to Philadelphia,” New York American, April 12, 1907: 11.

20 Strang led the major leagues with a .423 on-base percentage in 1906. “Unruly Mob Forces Giants to Forfeit to Philadelphia.”

21 “Baseball Crowd Causes Forfeit”; “New York Fans Stop the Game,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, April 12, 1907: 8.

22 Most major-league games in 1907 were officiated by only one umpire. “Baseball Crowd Causes Forfeit”; David W. Anderson, “Deadball Era Umpires: What They Did for Baseball,” https://sabr.org/journal/article/deadball-era-umpires-what-they-did-for-baseball/, accessed February 19, 2026.

23 “No Police; Game Stopped.”

24 Magee hit three singles and a triple in the game. He finished the season with 46 stolen bases and a league-leading 85 RBIs. Magee won the batting crown in 1910, breaking Wagner’s streak of four consecutive titles. Magee was four home runs short of winning the Triple Crown in 1910. In his final season in the big leagues, he was with the Cincinnati Reds when they won the infamous 1919 World Series against the Chicago White Sox.

25 “Baseball Crowd Causes Forfeit.”

26 According to the New York Tribune, Bresnahan’s cricket-style shin guards “caused considerable amusement.” Cubs fans later mocked Bresnahan for wearing them. “Baseball Crowd Causes Forfeit”; “Giants Forfeit Game.”

27 “Baseball Crowd Causes Forfeit.”

28 “Giants Forfeit Game to Phillies,” Brooklyn Eagle, April 12, 1907: 12; “New York Fans Stop the Game.”

29 “Unruly Mob Forces Giants to Forfeit to Philadelphia.”

30 “New Yorkers are Helpless before Corridon, While Phillies Find McGinnity and Ames Easily,” Philadelphia Inquirer, April 12, 1907: 1.

31 “Baseball Crowd Causes Forfeit.”

32 “Unruly Mob Forces Giants to Forfeit to Philadelphia.”

33 “Giants Forfeit Game to Phillies.”

34 “Giants Forfeit Game.”

35 “Giants Forfeit Game”; “Giants Forfeit Game to Phillies.”

36 “No Police; Game Stopped.”

37 Although several newspapers reported that the final score was 9-0 because of the forfeit, the National League rule book contained no such stipulation in 1907. Since the game was official, all individual and team statistics counted. Crane, “Giants Face Phillies in Season’s Second Battle.”

38 “Baseball Crowd Causes Forfeit”; “Giants Forfeit Game to Phillies.”

39 “Giants Face Phillies in Season’s Second Battle.”

40 According to the Ballparks Database at Seamheads.com, much of the outfield wall was only three feet high in 1907. Bulger, “Special Police and Barbed Wire Hold Rooters Off the Diamond.”

41 “Crowd Mobs Umpires,” New York Tribune, May 22, 1907: 1.

42 The New York Tribune reported that “the Pinkerton men were practically useless” at the Highlanders doubleheader on July 4. Neither incident resulted in a forfeit. “Immense Crowd Sees Highlanders Split with Philadelphia,” New York Tribune, July 5, 1907: 4.

43 Gary Belleville, “September 2, 1949: Dodgers Rookie Don Newcombe Tosses Third Straight Shutout on Bill Klem Night,” SABR Games Project, accessed February 19, 2026.

44 Associated Press, “City’s Bill Klem Honored at Testimonial Luncheon,” Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, September 3, 1949: 21.

45 Dana Mozley, “Everyone Cheers Ump – Old Arbitrator Klem,” New York Daily News, September 3, 1949: 28.

46 Associated Press, “City’s Bill Klem Honored at Testimonial Luncheon.”

Second baseman-manager Rogers Hornsby, who had recorded his second career Triple Crown and earned NL Most Valuable Player honors in 1925,1 was confident about his team’s prospects leading up to Opening Day against the defending World Series champion Pittsburgh Pirates on April 13 at Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis.

“If we get the pitching we have reason to expect, the St. Louis Cards ought to be in the race all the way, with a good chance to win the pennant,” said Hornsby, who assumed his dual role on May 31, 1925, replacing Branch Rickey as manager and piloting the Cardinals to fourth place in the NL with a 77-76 overall record.2 “We have an infield as good as any in the league, and there is no particular weakness in the outfield. We have plenty of hitting power.”3

The Tuesday-afternoon pregame festivities included the soon-to-be 30-year-old Hornsby4 receiving a most popular player trophy,5 a ceremonial first pitch by St. Louis Mayor Victor Miller, and a band. The Cardinals donned new uniforms, which did not feature the now-traditional cardinal birds on the chest but instead had “St. L.” on the left sleeve.6 The game was the first in the major leagues for third-base umpire Beans Reardon, who went on to work 24 seasons, including five World Series and three All-Star games.

Drawing the pitching assignments – on a day described as “fair weather, although just a bit chilly”7 – were a pair of right-handers: 32-year-old Vic Aldridge for Pittsburgh and 25-year-old Flint Rhem for St. Louis. In the Pirates’ come-from-behind seven-game win over the Washington Nationals in the 1925 World Series, Aldridge authored a pair of complete-game victories8 after going 15-7 with a 3.63 ERA during the regular season.9 Rhem went 8-13 with a 4.92 ERA the previous year, his first full season in the majors.

The Pirates, under fifth-year manager Bill McKechnie, were without star center fielder and team captain Max Carey, who was ill. Kiki Cuyler – Hornsby’s runner-up for the 1925 NL MVP Award – moved from his customary right-field spot to center, with Clyde Barnhart going from left to right, and reserve Carson Bigbee starting in left. “When we have all of our strength available for duty, we will be stronger than last year,” McKechnie said. “We will have more confidence and greater reserve strength.”10

The Cardinals struck in the bottom of the first inning. Ray Blades led off with a single, was sacrificed to second by Heinie Mueller, and scored on a single by Hornsby. It remained 1-0 until the fourth, when the Cardinals added a pair of runs. Hornsby doubled leading off and came home on a single by Jim Bottomley. Chick Hafey was hit by a pitch, and Tommy Thevenow drove in Bottomley with a two-out single.

St. Louis broke it open in the fifth. Mueller and Hornsby singled with one out. Bottomley, who a season earlier had led the NL with 227 hits and tied for the National and American League lead with 44 doubles,11 belted a three-run home run to right-center field to widen the Cardinals’ lead to 6-0. Bottomley had four RBIs in the game and went on to lead the NL with 120 for the season.

Through five scoreless innings Rhem allowed just two hits and two walks, but the Pirates got to him in the sixth. Aldridge singled leading off and Eddie Moore reached on an error by third baseman Les Bell. Bigbee’s bouncer hit off Bottomley’s glove when the first baseman cut in front of Hornsby to field it, and Aldridge came home on the infield single. Moore scored on a wild pitch, but Rhem kept it 6-2 by retiring the next three batters.

The Pirates continued to chip away. In the seventh Bell committed his second error in two innings on Barnhart’s grounder, and George Grantham doubled to right-center when Hafey and Mueller “got their signals crossed,”12 setting up Earl Smith with runners on second and third and no outs. Smith’s sacrifice fly brought in Barnhart, and pinch-hitter Paul Waner, making his major-league debut three days from his 23rd birthday, drew a walk.

On a full-count pitch to Moore, the runners took off and he hit a sharp grounder toward the bag at third. Bell, moving over to cover the steal attempt, grabbed the ball, stepped on third, and threw to first to complete what the Pittsburgh Gazette Times called “a dramatic double play.13

An inning later Bigbee homered to right to make it 6-4. In the Cardinals’ half of the eighth, Hafey led off with a triple to the center-field flagpole against reliever Tom Sheehan and Bell followed with a sacrifice fly for a 7-4 advantage.

The Pirates had one last rally, putting four successive hitters on base with one out in the ninth. Grantham singled when Bell waved off Thevenow on a routine popup, allowing it to drop; Smith singled; Johnny Gooch drew a pinch-hit walk to load the bases; and Moore delivered a two-run double that scored Grantham and pinch-runner Emil Yde. It was a one-run game.

Rhem got Bigbee to pop out to first base and walked Cuyler to reload the bases. Glenn Wright hit a line drive to center that Mueller initially sprinted back on before racing in to make the catch and secure a 7-6 Cardinals victory.14 The game was played in front of 17,000 fans and took 2 hours and 10 minutes to complete.

In his complete-game effort, Rhem allowed four earned runs on nine hits with five walks and two strikeouts. He induced two double-play groundouts, and the Pirates had a runner thrown out trying to steal second base. According to Herman Wecke of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, “The Cardinals defense was not up to snuff. There were two errors of commission and at least three of omission. These slips, the mental ones, were the ones that made it appear that Rhem was weakening and that he was lucky to pull through.”15

Aldridge worked six innings, giving up six runs (all earned) on eight hits with one walk and five strikeouts.

“[The Pirates] showed many championship qualities as they came from behind in a manner that was more than a slight reminder of the same boys on a big occasion of last October,” wrote Charles J. Doyle of the Pittsburgh Gazette Times. “The score … doesn’t tell the half of it from the standpoint of the Pittsburgh battle spirit.”16

After a 10-9 loss to the Chicago Cubs on June 1, the Cardinals were 23-25 and in sixth place in the eight-team NL. But a streak of 12 wins in 13 games ignited their season, and St. Louis climbed to the top of the standings in mid-August. Pittsburgh was in sole possession of first place on August 29 with a 70-49 record but went just 14-20 the rest of the way. The Cardinals subsequently were nip and tuck with the Cincinnati Reds before finally clinching their first NL pennant with a 6-4 victory over the New York Giants at the Polo Grounds on September 24.17

The Cardinals wound up with an 89-65 record – two games better than the Reds (87-67) and 4½ better than the Pirates (84-69) – to claim the franchise’s first championship since its fourth consecutive American Association crown in 1888.

Rhem emerged as the ace of the St. Louis pitching staff, going 20-7 with a 3.21 ERA. He shared the NL lead in wins18 and ranked tied for second with 34 games started, tied for fourth with 20 complete games, and sixth with 258 innings. It would prove to be the best season of his 12-year career, which was plagued by alcohol abuse.19

Hornsby, who was 3-for-3 on Opening Day, battled through an injury-riddled season while also preoccupied with his gravely ill mother.20 He batted .317 with 34 doubles, 5 triples, 11 homers, and 93 RBIs in 134 games.

Bob O’Farrell, the Cardinals’ durable catcher, was voted the NL Most Valuable Player after batting .293 with 30 doubles, 9 triples, 7 home runs and 68 RBIs. Three other Cardinals finished in the top 10 of MVP balloting: Thevenow (fourth), Bell (sixth), and Rhem (eighth).21

St. Louis went on to defeat the New York Yankees – managed by former Cardinals second baseman and manager Miller Huggins – in the World Series, four games to three.22

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Laura Peebles and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Sources 

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted the Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org websites for pertinent material and the box scores.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SLN/SLN192604130.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1926/B04130SLN1926.htm

Notes

1 Hornsby batted .403 with 39 home runs and 143 RBIs. He previously won the NL Triple Crown in 1922.

2 The Cardinals were 64-51 under Hornsby.

3 “What Sisler and Hornsby Think of Teams’ Chances,” St. Louis Star, April 13, 1926: 16.

4 Hornsby was born on April 27, 1896.

5 Herman Wecke, “Carey, Pirates’ Spark Plug, Will Not Face Cardinals Today,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 13, 1926: 28. According to the article, “A news-gathering agency in Cleveland held a nationwide contest and Hornsby was honored [in the NL]. A 9-year-old Scranton, Pa., boy, whose essay won first prize, will present the trophy.” Washington Nationals pitcher Walter Johnson won in the American League.

6 Wecke, “Carey, Pirates’ Spark Plug, Will Not Face Cardinals Today.” The article noted, “The ‘birds’ were thrown off because no hard, fast colors could be obtained.”

7 Wecke, “Carey, Pirates’ Spark Plug, Will Not Face Cardinals Today.”

8 Aldridge won Game Two, 3-2, and Game Five, 6-3 – beating future Hall of Famer Stan Coveleski both times. He also pitched one-third of an inning in relief in the decisive Game Seven. The Nationals led three games to one before the Pirates won three in a row to become the first team in a best-of-seven World Series to come back from a 3–1 deficit to win.

9 Aldridge was acquired from the Chicago Cubs on October 27, 1924.

10 Wecke, “Carey, Pirates’ Spark Plug, Will Not Face Cardinals Today.”

11 In the AL Marty McManus of the St. Louis Browns also had 44 doubles.

12 James M. Gould, “Hornsby Hits for 1.000 as Cards Stave Off Pirate Rally and Win Opener Here,” St. Louis Star, April 14, 1926: 18.

13 Charles J. Doyle, “Bucs’ Valiant Rally in Late Innings Falls One Run Short, 7 to 6,” Pittsburgh Gazette Times, April 14, 1926: 13.

14 The Cardinals went 19-23 in one-run games, while the Pirates were 22-18. St. Louis won the season series against Pittsburgh, 13-9, for the first time since 1922.

15 Herman Wecke, “Cards Show Tremendous Punch in Beating World Champions,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 14, 1926: 30.

16 Charles J. Doyle, “Pirates Lose Opener, 7 to 6,” Pittsburgh Gazette Times, April 14, 1926: 1.

17 In that game Billy Southworth, who was acquired from the Giants on June 14, hit a two-run game-deciding home run. The Cardinals sent Heinie Mueller, their Opening Day center fielder, to the Giants in the trade.

18 The Pirates’ Ray Kremer and Lee Meadows also won 20 games apiece, as did Pete Donohue of the Cincinnati Reds.

19 Nancy Snell Griffith, “Flint Rhem,” SABR BioProject, https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/flint-rhem/, accessed March 4, 2026.

20 Mary Hornsby died on September 29, 1926, in Austin, Texas, as the Cardinals were preparing for the World Series. Hornsby heeded her wishes and the funeral was delayed until after the World Series.

21 Pittsburgh pitcher Ray Kremer was third.

22 On December 20, 1926, the Cardinals traded Hornsby – embroiled in a contract dispute with owner Sam Breadon – to the Giants for second baseman Frankie Frisch and pitcher Jimmy Ring. O’Farrell was named player-manager for the 1927 season.

When newspapers reported that New York Giants player-manager Mel Ott broke six records in an 11-6 win over the Boston Braves on Opening Day 1945, it got the attention of the baseball community as an extraordinary day for the diminutive 36-year-old right fielder.

In fact, the 2-for-3 game at Boston’s Braves Field, including a single, double, two walks, one RBI, and three runs scored, was a routine performance for Ott. Because Ott already held many career National League batting marks, five of the “records” were merely increases of the Louisiana native’s own league-best totals. The sixth stemmed from his longevity as a Giants player.2

While Babe Ruth was famously setting major-league records for the New York Yankees in the American League, Ott was establishing his own collection of NL batting records across the Harlem River at the Polo Grounds. Since his debut at age 17 in 1926, the 5-foot-9, 170-pound slugger with a trademark leg-kick batting style had been piling up numbers in multiple offensive categories to become one of the game’s premier hitters.

Ott, who surprisingly never won the NL MVP Award,3 entered what turned out to be his last full season as a player in 1945 on top of post-1900 NL lifetime leaderboards in home runs (489), RBIs (1,777), extra-base hits (1,025), walks (1,629), total bases (4,087), runs (1,784), and what was known as “extra bases on long hits” (2,075).4

He had taken over the Giants’ managerial job in 1942 while still active as an outfielder full-time. His managerial record had not matched his success as a player. He enjoyed a credible third-place finish in his first campaign but plummeted to last in 1943 and fifth in 1944.

As with other major-league teams, the Giants’ roster had yet to see a significant return of players from military service during World War II.5 Their 1945 Opening Day lineup featured three relative graybeards in Ott, 37-year-old catcher Ernie Lombardi, and 37-year-old third baseman Phil Weintraub, alongside six teammates who averaged less than three years of prior major-league service.

Ott predicted the Giants would be among the top three teams in the league. “Judging by the predictions first division will be more crowded than a rush-hour subway. I figure we’ll be up there, perhaps in the first three,” he said.  “We have the same lineup, plus more pitching strength, our 1944 weakness.”6

Ott gave Bill Voiselle the assignment as his Opening Day starter. The 6-foot-4 right-hander, starting a Giants’ season opener for the second of four successive years, had been the team’s workhorse in 1944. He started 41 games and pitched 312⅔ innings, both tops in the league, while posting a 21-16 record.

Bob Coleman, a Deadball Era catcher with the Pittsburgh Pirates and Cleveland Indians, was in his third year as Braves manager in 1944, when they finished in sixth place. His only returning starters from 1945 were left fielder Tommy Holmes and right fielder Chuck Workman. First baseman Joe Mack, whose professional career dated to 1935, was making his big-league debut at age 33. Rookie Steve Filipowicz was in the lineup in place of Joe Medwick who was out with a back injury.

Twenty-six-year-old righty Al Javery, who had a 10-19 record and 3.54 ERA in 1944, was Boston’s Opening Day starter for the fourth season in a row. Javery and Voiselle had opened the 1944 season against each other, with Voiselle taking the win.

A weather forecast for thunderstorms contributed to the low attendance of 5,021 for the Tuesday afternoon contest.7 It was the second-lowest Opening Day attendance for both leagues, ahead of only the St. Louis Browns.8  The Giants wasted no time getting on the scoreboard after Massachusetts Gov. Maurice Tobin threw out the ceremonial first ball.9 Johnny Rucker led off the game with a walk. Hausmann singled to send Rucker to third. Ott followed with a run-scoring flyout to center field.

The Braves tied the score in the second inning, when Voiselle loaded the bases with one out by yielding a single to Carden Gillenwater and a double to Eddie Joost and walking Phil Masi intentionally. Steve Shemo hit a grounder to first baseman Weintraub, who threw to second for a forceout. Gillenwater scored on the play.

In the third inning, the Giants broke the game open. Javery took his turn loading the bases on a ground-rule double by Hausmann, a walk to Ott, and a single by Filipowicz.  . Weintraub’s single scored Hausmann and Ott, and right-hander Johnny Hutchings replaced Javery with runners on first and third. After retiring Lombardi on a flyball, Hutchings gave up RBI singles to Buddy Kerr and Nap Reyes, making it 5-1.

The Braves got a run back in their half of the third when Voiselle gave up a double to Dick Culler and a run-scoring single by Holmes, his first of a majors-best 224 hits in 1945. Later in the inning, Holmes took third on Mack’s first big-league hit, a single to right, but Ott threw out Mack trying to take second, and Boston’s rally stalled.

New York again had a quick answer in the fourth. Ott got on base for the second time, with a single. He scored on Weintraub’s home run for a 7-2 lead.

Voiselle kept the Braves from scoring again through the eighth inning, even though he allowed runners to reach third base in the sixth and eighth.10

Ott’s second hit was a double off Tom Earley in the sixth, but he was left stranded. He got on base for the fourth time with a leadoff walk in the ninth off Charlie Cozart, who was making his major-league debut.11 Following Weintraub’s walk, Lombardi hit a three-run homer to deep left. Three consecutive singles by Reyes, Voiselle, and Rucker produced the Giants’ 11th run.12

Voiselle finally weakened in the ninth. Facing his 39th batter of the game in another workhorse outing, he gave up a three-run homer to Workman that landed in the bullpen in right field, scoring Culler and Holmes. Mack made it a two-hit debut game with a solo home run to the bullpen.13 It was now 11-6, and Ott turned to reliever Ace Adams to close out the Giants’ win.

Voiselle was not particularly efficient on the mound, giving up five earned runs on 12 hits (including two home runs and two doubles) and four walks. He struck out eight. Every Braves position player recorded a hit, including three by Joost.

The Braves used four pitchers, with starter Javery taking the loss. Boston native Earley, who had been discharged from the Navy two months earlier, turned in the Braves’ best performance by allowing only two hits in four innings.

Every Giants batter, including pitcher Voiselle, produced a hit, including four by Reyes and two each by Ott, Hausmann, and Weintraub. Weintraub’s four RBIs and Lombardi’s three led the Giants.

Ott’s double, RBI, three runs scored, and two walks added to his own records for those four categories, as well as “extra bases on long hits.” His 20th campaign with the Giants broke the record for most seasons with a single team, previously held by Chicago Cubs catcher Gabby Hartnett with 19.14

The 1945 Giants had a league-leading 25-7 record on May 26. But then they lost 19 of their next 24 and descended to fifth place by June 20. They ended the season in fifth place again, 19 games behind the pennant-winning Cubs. The Braves came in sixth, 30 games out.

Ott finished 1945 with a .308/.411/.499 slash line, 21 home runs, and 79 RBIs in 135 games. With his 500th career home run on August 1, he joined Ruth and Jimmie Foxx as only the third player to reach the milestone.

Ott focused on managing after the 1945 season. He hit his 511th – and final – homer on Opening Day 1946 but appeared in only 35 games that year, then just four in 1947.15 With the team playing below .500 in July 1948, Giants owner Horace Stoneham hesitantly felt the need to make a dramatic change with his popular manager. Ott resigned, ending his seven-season managerial tenure with a 464-530 mark, and was replaced by Leo Durocher.16

Acknowledgements

This article was fact-checked by Thomas Merrick and copy-edited by Keith Thursby.

Sources

In addition to the sources listed in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org for pertinent information, including the box score and play-by-play.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BSN/BSN194504170.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1945/B04170BSN1945.htm

“Mel Ott Away to a Fine Start; Fans Are Glad,” Springfield (Massachusetts) Daily News, April 19, 1945: 16.

Notes 

1 Walter Graham, “Giants Win over Braves by 11-6 in NL Opener in Boston,” Springfield (Massachusetts) Republican, April 18. 1945: 1.

2 Dick Young, “Giants Slam Braves, 11-6; Voiselle Rescued in 9th,” New York Daily News, April 18, 1945: C16.

3 Richard Cuicchi, “Analysis: A Retrospective Review of Mel Ott’s Disappointing MVP Results,” Crescent City Sports (https://crescentcitysports.com/analysis-a-retrospective-review-of-mel-otts-disappointing-mvp-results/), November 21, 2022. Accessed February 20, 2026.

4 “Extra bases on long hits” is not currently a common-reported statistic. It is not to be confused with the more traditional “extra base hits” stats (referred to as XBH by Baseball-Reference.com). “Extra bases on long hits” is calculated as the sum of one extra base for each double, two extra bases for each triple, and three extra bases for each home run. In Ott’s case, he had 928 doubles (464 extra bases), 72 triples (144 extra bases), and 489 home runs (1,467 extra bases) for a total of 2,075 to start the 1945 season.

5 The mass return from military service occurred a season later, in 1946.

6 Jack Hand,”Hurlers Boost Tiger Hopes for American Loop Pennant,” Long Branch (New Jersey) Daily Record, April 16, 1945: 7.

7 Melville Webb, “Giants Batter Tribal Hurlers for 11-6 Victory Before 5021,” Boston Globe, April 18, 1945: 11.

8 The Braves averaged 4,989 fans per home game that season, sixth in the eight-team NL.

9 Pre-game ceremonies also included a Marines squad from Charleston Navy Yard raising the flag in the bullpen and then lowering it to half-mast in memory of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who had died five days earlier on April 12. Ralph Wheeler, “Braves Beaten by Giants, 11-6,” Boston Herald, April 18, 1945:25.

10 Voiselle was wearing uniform number 17 in 1945. In 1947, after getting traded to the Braves, he changed his number to 96, in honor of his hometown, Ninety-Six, South Carolina.

11 The Braves had pinch-hit Tommy Nelson for Earley in the eighth. Nelson struck out in his first major-league at-bat. He had a 40-game big-league career with the Braves in 1945.

12 It was the first of five big-league appearances for Cozart, all with the 1945 Braves.

13 Mack’s big-league career consisted of 66 games with the 1945 Braves. He hit three home runs – all against the Giants.

14 An argument could be made that Ott’s outstanding career numbers were largely a result of accumulating the “counting” statistics (e g., runs, hits, walks, home runs, RBI, and total bases) over an extensive 22-year period. But a closer look at his career shows he was also highly productive in the “derived” stats, with a .304/.414./.533 BA/OBP/SLG, .947 OPS, 155 OPS+, and 111.0 WAR.

15 Ott’s NL record stood until 1966, when Willie Mays of the then-San Francisco Giants passed him.

16 Ironically, it was reported that Ott endorsed his Dodgers nemesis Durocher as his substitute to Stoneham. Alfred M. Martin, Mel Ott: The Gentle Giant, (Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2003), 65.

In 1955, though, he kicked off the season with two homers on Opening Day – the first Red Sox player ever to do so.

On April 12, the Baltimore Orioles hosted the Red Sox for Boston’s season opener and their own home opener, at Memorial Stadium. A day earlier, Baltimore had kicked off the American League schedule with a 12-5 loss to the Washington Nationals at Griffith Stadium. Facing the Red Sox for new manager Paul Richards’ Orioles was 32-year-old right-hander Joe Coleman, who had won 13 games for seventh-place Baltimore in 1954.1

For Boston’s Mike “Pinky” Higgins, it was his managerial debut. The Lou Boudreau-led Red Sox had finished fourth in the AL the year before. Higgins named 25-year-old Frank Sullivan his starter. Also a right-hander, Sullivan had been 15-12 with a 3.14 ERA in 1954.

There had been a “misty rain” before the game, which was played on what newspapers called a “cold and dismal afternoon” but nonetheless drew a crowd of 38,085.2

Higgins’ lineup was without superstar left fielder Ted Williams, who had “retired” from baseball until his divorce proceedings were settled,3 but the Red Sox jumped on Coleman right away. As the Baltimore Sun observed, “From the outset…it was evident that Joe Coleman, Baltimore’s comeback hero of 1954, didn’t have it…obviously still handicapped from a severe spring head cold.”4

Second baseman Billy Goodman began the game with a single to left-center. Shortstop Eddie Joost singled off the left-field fence, just a couple of feet from going out. Goodman took third on Joost’s hit and scored on a 6-4 groundout by Faye Throneberry, who was holding down left in Williams’ absence. The Red Sox had a 1-0 lead.

Third baseman Billy Cox – purchased by the Orioles in the offseason after seven seasons with the Brooklyn Dodgers – led off the bottom of the first with a single. Rookie second baseman Don Leppert sacrificed Cox to second, but Sullivan stranded him there.

The Red Sox went back on the attack in the second inning. First baseman Norm Zauchin, back in the majors after spending 1952 and 1953 in the Army and 1954 in Triple A, reached on an error by Orioles first baseman Eddie Waitkus (his first in more than a year).5 Third baseman Lepcio then homered over the scoreboard and into the left-field bleachers, about 375 feet from the plate, extending Boston’s lead to 3-0.

Soon, Coleman’s day was done. A one-out walk and a two-out double by Willy Miranda, and the Orioles had a threat in the bottom of the second. Richards had Bobby Young pinch-hit for Coleman, and Young lifted a fly ball to Zauchin at first.

Lou Kretlow, who had gone 5⅓ innings a day earlier as Baltimore’s Opening Day starter, took over pitching and retired the Red Sox in order in the third. The Orioles got on the scoreboard in their half after a one-out walk and a double by left fielder Gil Coan. Gene Woodling – acquired from the New York Yankees in a 17-player offseason trade – earned an RBI on a sacrifice fly to left field.

The Red Sox restored their three-run lead, though, in the top of the fourth. Lepcio struck out, Jimmy Piersall singled to left, and Sullivan struck out. With a hit-and-run play on, Billy Goodman doubled to deep right, and Piersall scored from first to make it 4-1.

The first two Orioles reached in the fourth, but a groundout, strikeout, and infield fly stranded them.

Both halves of the fifth inning ended the same way – on double plays executed on a strikeout and a throw by the catcher to catch an attempted base stealer. The Orioles’ Les Moss threw out Jackie Jensen trying to steal second, and the Red Sox’ Sammy White threw out Woodling trying to steal third base. Through five innings, Sullivan walked five batters and allowed five hits, but the O’s left eight runners on base.

In the top of the sixth, Zauchin struck out, but Lepcio homered again, “350 feet into the left-field bleachers.”6 He had hit only eight home runs in 116 games in 1954, two of them on July 5 when he homered once in each game of a doubleheader in Washington.

Piersall doubled to right – his third hit of the day – and Sullivan helped his own cause with a single up the middle that enabled Piersall to score, pushing the lead to 6-1. Don Ferrarese replaced Kretlow on the mound. Two flyball outs followed. Sullivan faced three Orioles in the bottom of the inning and retired all three.

The Red Sox got a seventh run in the top of the seventh. Throneberry led off with a double to left. Jensen walked. White singled to left, loading the bases with nobody out. Zauchin grounded into a 4-3 double play, as Throneberry scored and Jensen ran to third. Lepcio, with a chance at a three-homer day, took a called third strike.

Sullivan buckled down, allowing a two-out walk in the bottom of the seventh but not another baserunner from that point on. The Red Sox did little either, twice getting a runner to second base but no further.

After the game, Lepcio said of the homers, “I never felt so strong. I don’t understand it myself.”7 He added, “I was swinging at everything I could see. They were feeding me curveballs and I guess they got them inside a little too much. But both were strikes.”8

Lepcio had married Joan Benjamin just before spring training. “Believe me, cooking is making a difference,” he said after the game. “My diet is well-regulated. Joan sees to that. All around, my life has become nicely adjusted. It has given me a more relaxed attitude. Maybe I’m a little more mature.”9

Sullivan’s five-hit, six-walk, five-strikeout complete game earned the win. Explaining why his pitching had improved later in the game, Sullivan – whose locker was right next to Lepcio’s – said he had felt so strong early on that he “must have been throwing the ball too hard. After I got a little tired and couldn’t throw quite so hard my pitches seemed to have more on them and I had better control.”10 

Sullivan went on to lead the league in wins (18), innings pitched (260), and games started (35). He finished 18-13 with a 2.91 ERA and was named an All-Star for the first of two successive seasons.

Losing pitcher Coleman was released on July 1 and signed with the Detroit Tigers; he finished 1955 a combined 2-2, with a 5.59 overall ERA. It was his final big-league season.

The Red Sox came in fourth, 12 games behind the league-leading Yankees. The Orioles were seventh, 39 games behind New York.

With two infielders – Joost and Billy Klaus (who ultimately placed second to Cleveland’s Herb Score in AL Rookie of the Year voting) – added to the Red Sox over the winter of 1954-55, Lepcio became more of a backup utility infielder, appearing in 51 games and batting 151 times. He hit .231, with six home runs in all and a total of 15 RBIs. He played major-league ball through the 1961 season, departing Boston early in 1959.

Ted Lepcio was the first Red Sox player to homer twice on Opening Day. Later players to do so were Lenny Green (April 12, 1965), Carl Yastrzemski (April 10, 1968), Carlton Fisk (April 6, 1973), and Wilyer Abreu (March 27, 2025).  On April 6, 2015, both Dustin Pedroia and Hanley Ramirez did so.

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Ray Danner and copy-edited by Mike Eisenbath.

Sources 

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BAL/BAL195504120.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1955/B04120BAL1955.htm

Thanks to Tim Newby for supplying Baltimore newspaper coverage.

Notes

1 Coleman had started his career with one game in 1942, then spent the next three seasons in military service. Primarily pitching for the Philadelphia Athletics, his first season with Baltimore was 1954 and he had been 13-17 (3.50). 

2 Roy Mumpton, “Lepcio Poles 2 Home Runs as Red Sox Top Orioles, 7-1,” Worcester (Massachusetts) Telegram, April 13, 1955: 17.

3 Williams’ first game of 1955 was on May 28.

4 Lou Hatter, “Orioles Lose Home Opener to Red Sox, 7-1, Before 38,085 Fans,” Baltimore Sun, April 13, 1955: 30.

5 Before his military service, Zauchin had debuted in September 1951 by appearing in five games for the Red Sox. Later in the 1955 season, on May 27, he tied a club record with 10 RBIs against Washington.

6 Bob Holbrook, “Sox Beat Orioles, 7-1; Lepcio Hits 2 Homers,” Boston Globe, April 13, 1955: 1, 18.

7 Holbrook.

8 Associated Press, “Lepcio Hits Hard in Oriole Park,” Daily Mail (Hagerstown, Maryland), April 13, 1955: 12. It was also the first time any player had hit two homers in a game at Memorial Stadium; it was the ballpark’s second year.

9 John Drohan, “Home Cooking Strengthens Lepcio,” Boston Traveler, April 13, 1955: 35.

10 Arthur Sampson, “Red Sox Dominate Orioles, 7-1,” Boston Herald, April 13, 1955: 27.

By the beginning of the 1959 season, only seven players remained from the team Lane inherited.2 Five of Cleveland’s eight starting position players on Opening Day had been obtained via trades made by Lane.3

Two were acquired from the Kansas City Athletics on June 15, 1958, in a deadline trade that was generally well received at the time by Cleveland fans. Lane sent outfielder Roger Maris and two other players to the A’s for infielder/outfielder Woodie Held and first baseman Vic Power. “It gives us more balance, more flexibility, better defense and greater speed,” said Indians manager Bobby Bragan.4

Less than two weeks later, Joe Gordon replaced Bragan as Cleveland’s manager. At first, Gordon used Held primarily in the outfield, but he inserted Held at shortstop for 14 games during the last month of the 1958 season. By the end of spring training in 1959, the manager felt the 27-year-old Held could be the team’s answer at shortstop. “He is quick and has a good arm … He gives us more power in the lineup,” said Gordon.5

The Indians, fourth-place finishers (77-76) in 1958, started the 1959 season in Kansas City, winning two games before returning to Cleveland for their home opener.6 They faced the Detroit Tigers, fifth (77-77) in the eight-team American League in 1958. The Tigers, projected to finish as high as second in 1959, dropped three home games to the eventual AL champion Chicago White Sox before heading to Cleveland.7

Skies were sunny, with a temperature of 61 degrees for Tuesday’s Opening Day festivities.8 As 33,098 spectators watched, Cleveland Mayor Anthony Celebrezze threw out the first pitch prior to the scheduled 3 P.M. start.9

Herb Score took the mound for the Indians. The 1955 AL Rookie of the Year, Score led the league in strikeouts in each of his first two seasons and won 20 games in 1956. After being hit in the eye by a line drive and missing most of the 1957 campaign, the 26-year-old southpaw struggled with various injuries in 1958, limiting him to 12 games.

Score, who was wild during most of spring training,10 appeared in relief four days earlier during Cleveland’s first win in Kansas City. The left-hander walked two batters and was pulled with a 2-and-0 count on a third batter, missing the plate on 10 of his 12 pitches.11

Against the Tigers, Score walked leadoff hitter Eddie Yost.12 Rocky Bridges lined a single to center, moving Yost to second base. With Gary Bell warming up in the Cleveland bullpen, Score struck out eventual 1959 AL batting champion Harvey Kuenn and Gail Harris. Al Kaline grounded into a force out, ending the Tigers’ threat. “I wasn’t missing by much to the first couple of batters,” said Score after the game. “It helped when I got Harvey Kuenn on strikes.”13

Score went on to retire Detroit in order in the second inning through the sixth. Facing the minimum 15 batters and issuing no walks during this five-inning stretch, Score recorded four more strikeouts. The Tigers hit only four balls beyond the infield, each a routine fly-ball out. The closest Detroit came to getting a hit was in the fourth. Indians second baseman Billy Martin – a 1958 Tiger who had come to Cleveland in a five-player offseason deal – made a one-handed stop of Kuenn’s smash and threw him out at first base.14

Jim Bunning had been the losing pitcher against the White Sox in the Tigers’ home opener four days earlier, allowing 3 earned runs on 9 hits in 4⅓ innings. The 27-year-old right-hander won 20 games in 1957, his first year as a full-time starter, and pitched a no-hitter against the Boston Red Sox in 1958.

Bunning held the Indians scoreless through the first three innings, allowing only a walk and a single in the second. He ran into trouble in the fourth. Minnie Miñoso led off with a 450-foot home run, clearing the left-field fence and landing at the base of the grandstand wall.15

After two fly outs sandwiched around a walk, Bunning had a chance to end the inning against Held, the only Cleveland regular who had yet to get a hit in the young season. Held had struck out in the second inning, leaving him 0-for-10 at the plate in two-plus games.

This time he drove one to deep left, his two-run homer landing a little short of Miñoso’s blast. George Strickland followed with a homer near the foul pole in left, making the score 4-0.16

Bunning, who went on to lead the AL with 37 home runs allowed in 1959, was relieved after the fourth inning. Jerry Davie and Tom Morgan followed with scoreless innings in the fifth and sixth. It was Davie’s major-league debut; he appeared in 11 big-league games, all with the 1959 Tigers.

Kuenn grounded out to start Detroit’s half of the seventh, the 19th batter in a row Score retired. Gail Harris hit a 2-and-2 fastball that cleared the fence in right field for a home run.17 Score recorded the next two outs on a foul popup to Power and a strikeout.

Morgan again retired the Indians in order in the seventh. Detroit’s Johnny Groth singled in the eighth, but Red Wilson struck out and pinch-hitter Gus Zernial took three curveball strikes to become Score’s ninth strikeout victim.18 Yost grounded into a force at second for the final out.

Ray Narleski relieved George Susce with the bases loaded in the bottom of the eighth. Susce  hit Miñoso to start the inning,19 and an infield single, a sacrifice, and a walk caused manager Bill Norman to bring in Narleski, an All-Star in 1958 but traded to Detroit in the Martin deal after five years with the Indians.

Held hit Narleski’s first pitch, a fastball in the middle of the plate,20 435 feet into the stands in left field.21 His grand slam extended Cleveland’s margin to 8-1 and gave Held six RBIs to go with his two homers.

Bridges led off the top of the ninth with a ground single to left. He moved to second after Score’s pickoff throw hit him in the back.22 Kuenn grounded out, ending a 20-game hitting streak that included the last 17 games of the 1958 season.23 Kaline singled one out later, moving Bridges to third. Score threw out Frank Bolling on a tap back to the mound to secure his first victory since April 23, 1958.24

“I don’t remember any games in which I walked only one batter,” said Score of his nine-strikeout, one-walk, five-hit performance. “I know I haven’t had any with no walks.”25

Although Score’s longest outing during spring training was five innings, his stamina didn’t seem to be an issue. “He was better at the finish than the start,” said Gordon. “He was stretching out and firing in the late innings.”26

Held’s third homer of the season beat the Tigers the next day. After going 0-for-3 against Detroit starter Paul Foytack, he faced Narleski in the 10th inning with the game tied, 1-1. With two outs and the bases empty, Held hit a 2-and-2 slider deep into the left-field stands for a walk-off home run.27

The Indians finished 1959 in second place, five games behind the AL pennant-winning White Sox. Effectively eliminated after losing a four-game series to Chicago at the end of August, Cleveland finished the year with a 7-15 record against the White Sox. Detroit fired Norman after a 2-15 start, replacing him with Jimmy Dykes. The Tigers came in fourth, 18 games out of first place.

Score posted a 9-5 record with a 4.07 ERA in the first half of the 1959 season, but in the second half went 0-6 (6.31 ERA).28 The day before the 1960 season opened, he was traded to the Chicago White Sox. Despite being reunited with Al Lopez, his manager during his first two seasons in the majors, Score was never able to  regain his pre-1957 form. He started 22 games (5-10, 3.72 ERA) for the White Sox in 1960, pitched in eight games in 1961, and made only four relief appearances in early 1962 before his major-league career ended.29

Held hit a career-high 29 home runs in 1959. His 22 homers while playing short topped Lou Boudreau’s club record of 18 home runs for a Cleveland shortstop, set during the Indians’ 1948 World Series championship season.30 Held played for Cleveland through the end of 1964, hitting 130 of his career 179 home runs during his 6½ years with the Indians.

Author’s Note

The first baseball card the author remembers owning is a 1960 Topps Woody Held card.31 The back of the card contains 1959 and career stats, plus a list of season highlights.  Also on the back is a drawing of a player crossing the plate in front of a catcher who says “Ain’t cha ever going to stop?” The caption below reads “Woody’s first three hits in 1959 were homers.”

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Bruce Slutsky and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org. for box scores/play-by-play information, player, team, and season pages, pitching and batting game logs, and other data:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CLE/CLE195904140.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1959/B04140CLE1959.htm

Notes

1 Harry Jones, “Lane Arrives to Ascertain Needs of Ailing Indians,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, November 12, 1957: 29. Before going to Cleveland, Lane had been the general manager of the Chicago White Sox (1949-1955) and the St. Louis Cardinals (1956-1957). An excellent summary of Lane’s performance as general manager for each team he worked for, including his best and worst trades, can be found in Warren Corbett’s SABR biography of Lane.

2 Lyall Smith, “Herb Evened Score with Bad Memories,” Detroit Free Press, April 15, 1959: 33. Six of the players still with the Indians at the start of the 1959 season were pitchers Herb Score, Cal McLish, and Mike Garcia, catchers Russ Nixon and Hal Naragon, and outfielder Rocky Colavito. The article referenced here included outfielder Minnie Miñoso as the seventh player Lane inherited. As noted in the following endnote, however, the first trade Lane made for the Indians was to acquire Miñoso from the White Sox. The seventh player is more likely catcher Dick Brown, who played in 34 games for the Indians in 1957. Brown began 1959 on Cleveland’s roster but was sent down to the minors on May 9. Infielder George Strickland, who played for the Indians from 1953 through 1957, retired in January of 1958, after Lane’s arrival. Strickland made a comeback in 1959 and was in Cleveland’s Opening Day lineup.

3 In addition to the Maris trade, Lane acquired the three other starting players via trades. He traded outfielder Al Smith and pitcher Early Wynn in December of 1957 to the White Sox for Miñoso and reserve infielder Fred Hatfield. In November of 1958 he traded pitchers Don Mossi and Ray Narleski and infielder Ossie Álvarez to the Detroit Tigers for starting second baseman Billy Martin and pitcher Al Cicotte. Martin played third base for the Tigers in 1958, but moved back to second for the Indians. In December of 1958 he traded outfielder Gary Geiger and first baseman Vic Wertz to the Boston Red Sox for starting center fielder Jim Piersall. Although not a starter at the beginning of the season, outfielder Tito Francona was obtained in exchange for Larry Doby in a March 1959 trade with Detroit.

4 Harry Jones, “Maris, Ward Swapped for Power, Held,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, June 16, 1958: 1. The other two players sent to Kansas City were pitcher Dick Tomanek and first baseman Preston Ward.

5 Harry Jones, “Gordon Sees Indians ‘Improved’; Pitching Is No Worry,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, March 29, 1959: 2-C. Gordon stated as late as April 8 that Held would be the shortstop in his Opening Day lineup (“Indians to Start Held, Jackson,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, April 9, 1959: 29.), but opened the season with Held at third base. Gordon started Strickland at shortstop for the first month and a half of the season, with Held playing third base. After the beginning of June, Held played most of the games at shortstop, with Strickland moving to third base.

6 Sunday’s third game at Kansas City was rained out, and no major-league games were scheduled for Monday, April 13, 1959.

7 Harry Jones, “40,000 to See Tribe in Opener,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, April 14, 1959: 1. Besides adding Mossi and Narleski from the Indians to their pitching staff, the Tigers revamped the left side of their infield with a December 1958 trade with Washington. Detroit received starting shortstop Rocky Bridges, starting third baseman Eddie Yost, and outfielder Neil Chrisley from the Senators in exchange for infielder Reno Bertoia, outfielder Jim Delsing, and infielder Ron Samford.

8 Pat Garling, “33,000 Fans Run Fever of Faith in Tribe,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, April 15, 1959: 1.

9 Jones, “40,000 to See Tribe in Opener.”

10 Harry Jones, “Score Wins Over Tigers, 8-1,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, April 15, 1959: 1.

11 Harry Jones, “Score Is Starter Tuesday,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, April 13, 1959: 33.

12 Yost led the AL in walks in 1959 with 132. He led the league in walks six times during his career.

13 Chuck Heaton, “Score’s Control Amazes Even Herb,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, April 15, 1959: 25.

14 Gordon Cobbledick, “Score Re-Establishes Himself as One of Baseball’s Major Pitching Stars,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, April 15, 1959: 25.

15 Hal Middlesworth, “Tagging the Tigers,” Detroit Free Press, April 15, 1959: 35.

16 “Tagging the Tigers.”

17 “Score Wins Over Tigers, 8-1.”

18 “Score’s Control Amazes Even Herb.”

19 Miñoso led the AL in HBPs in 1959 for the eighth time. He finished his career having led the AL in HBPs a record ten times.

20 “Score Wins Over Tigers, 8-1.” This was the third HR surrendered by Narleski in just four innings of relief thus far in 1959; he ended up surrendering 21 in just 104 innings in 1959, his last season in the majors.

21 “Score Re-Establishes Himself as One of Baseball’s Major Pitching Stars.”

22 Hal Middlesworth, “Score (and 4 Homers) Rip Tigers, 8-1,” Detroit Free Press, April 15, 1959: 33.

23 “Tagging the Tigers.”

24 The Detroit Free Press said Bridges “stood rooted” at second base when Kaline singled (“Tagging the Tigers”). The Cleveland Plain Dealer says Bridges moved to third on Kaline’s single (“Score Wins Over Tigers, 8-1”). Both Retrosheet and Baseball Reference show Bridges moving to third.

25 “Score’s Control Amazes Even Herb.” Score was correct in stating he didn’t have any no-walk games, but he pitched a complete game with only one walk on September 22, 1956, and a seven-inning stint with only one walk on July 10, 1955.

26 “Score’s Control Amazes Even Herb.”

27 Harry Jones, “Held’s Homer in 10th Beats Tigers,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, April 16, 1959: 29.

28 Robert L. Burnes, “Herb May Be Headed for Bull-Pen Duty,” The Sporting News, August 12, 1959: 12. Score’s second half slump did not appear to be directly related to a specific injury. The TSN article suggests many felt he was throwing too many curve balls. Score disagreed. “I’ve thrown 22 home-run balls this year,” he said, “and all have been on fast balls. I just can’t reach back and get that little extra now when I’m in a jam.”

29 Score enjoyed a second career as a broadcaster for the Indians, first on TV (1964 through 1967) and then on radio (1968 through 1997).

30 Held hit 23 homers while playing the entire season at short for the Indians in 1961. That was tops for a Cleveland shortstop until Jhonny Peralta hit 24 home runs in 2005.

31 Held’s first name is generally spelled Woodie, but Topps misspelled it Woody on nearly all of his cards between 1958 and 1969. The only years it was spelled Woodie were 1961 and 1969.

Hope is alive and optimism abounds on Opening Day. Talk of it being “our year” is perhaps more common than it should be. Entering the 1967 season, the Baltimore Orioles and Minnesota Twins had good reasons for optimism. The reigning World Series champion Orioles had swept the Los Angeles Dodgers the previous October.2 The Twins had finished second to the Orioles in ’66 and were one game shy of being the 1965 World Series champions.3

On April 11, 1967, Baltimore hosted Minnesota on a clear, chilly afternoon. The second largest Opening Day crowd in Memorial Stadium history, (39,812), was on hand.4 With hopefulness in the air, Twins third base coach Billy Martin predicted the Twins would not only win the opening game, but also capture the pennant.5

The game marked the major league debut of Minnesota’s Rod Carew. Born in Panama, then emigrated to Manhattan as a teen, the 21-year-old had completed only two years of Class A ball by 1967, but his solid spring training performance won a starting role at second base for the opener.6

His manager, Sam Mele, was less than optimistic. He recognized Carew as a player with a bright future but questioned if he was ready for “The Show” so soon. General manager and owner Calvin Griffith convinced Mele to start Carew on Opening Day and move César Tovar from second to center. “We want to find out fast about Carew,”7 Griffith said. “He can do it all … He could be the American League All-Star second baseman if he sets his mind to it.”8

The pitching matchup featured two left-handers, 24-year-old Dave McNally for Baltimore and Minnesota’s Jim Kaat, 28. McNally had finished the previous season with a 13-6 record and a 3.17 ERA. Kaat went 25-13 with a 2.75 ERA, leading the AL in wins, complete games (19), and innings pitched (304⅔). He also led the majors in games started (41).9

In the first inning, with two strikes,10 Tovar hit a leadoff double down the right-field line. The next batter, Rich Rollins, drove McNally’s pitch to deep left. It looked like a homer, but the wind held it up, and Curt Blefary, not known for his fielding,11 robbed Rollins with a catch above the wall. Thinking the ball was gone, Tovar had already rounded third,12 and Blefary’s throw to second doubled him up. “The catch was great but the throw was even better,” said Orioles manager Hank Bauer. “He just wheeled and threw a strike.”13

Instead of starting the game with a two-run deficit, the Orioles turned an unusual double play, resulting in two outs and empty bases – much to the delight of the hometown fans. Tony Oliva grounded to first baseman Boog Powell, who tossed the ball to McNally at the bag for the third out.

Kaat hit Blefary with a pitch to begin the bottom of the first.14 Next, Twins left fielder Bob Allison misjudged Luis Aparicio’s fly ball. It sailed over Allison’s head and the sprinting Blefary scored on the double.

Reigning AL Most Valuable Player Frank Robinson15 hit a hard groundball to second for Carew’s first defensive play. It went off Carew’s glove into right field for a single, scoring Aparicio. Later, Carew said he “should have fielded” the grounder.16 Brooks Robinson followed with a two-run homer that barely reached the left field stands, just inside the foul pole.17 Kaat got the next three outs, but the damage had been done right out of the gate as the Orioles moved ahead by four runs.

In the second inning, sixth-place hitter Carew stepped up for his first big-league plate appearance. With two outs and no runners on, he connected for a single to the left of second base. Carew was stranded at first as McNally struck out Earl Battey.

The left-handed hitting Carew remarked, “I wanted so much to start with a hit.”18

Coming off his seventh consecutive Gold Glove at third base in 1966, Brooks Robinson turned in stellar defensive plays for Baltimore, taking away three hits.19 In the second inning, he made a leaping catch of Harmon Killebrew’s20 smoking grounder and threw out the big first baseman. In the third, Robinson robbed Zoilo Versalles in the same fashion as the Killebrew play, and he stopped a hard shot from Tovar, while quickly turning a slick 5-4-3 double play.21

The Twins offense came to life in the fifth. Battey led off with a double. Versalles singled, advancing Battey to third. Pinch-hitting for Kaat, Andy Kosco singled, scoring Battey and moving Versalles to second. McNally got the next two outs, then Oliva put the Twins back in the game with a two-run double. After McNally walked Killebrew, he was relieved by righty Moe Drabowsky, who retired the Twins when Allison flied out. Baltimore 4, Minnesota 3.

Twins right-hander Jim Perry pitched the fifth and the start of the sixth. In the sixth, Powell led off with a double. Paul Blair hit a one-out double to right,22 scoring Powell. Andy Etchebarren singled, knocking in Blair for another run and a 6-3 Orioles lead. After Etchebarren’s hit, Perry was relieved by righty Ron Kline.

In the top of the eighth, Oliva led off with a single. Drabowsky secured the next two outs. Then, Carew dug-in for his fourth at-bat, following his second-inning single, a groundout to short in the fourth, and a strikeout in the sixth. Carew singled again, this time between third and short,23 moving Oliva to second. Drabowsky walked Battey, loading the bases. Bauer sent in reliever Stu Miller, a righty. Miller got out of the inning when Versalles grounded out.

In the ninth, Miller preserved Baltimore’s 6-3 victory and picked up a save with a one-two-three inning, retiring Russ Nixon, Tovar, and Rollins. Drabowsky was credited with the win and Kaat took the loss.24 The Twins outhit the Orioles, 9-7, but Baltimore prevailed in the same way they did for much of the prior season, with timely hitting, great defense, and an excellent bullpen.25

The Orioles had a disappointing year (76-85), finishing in sixth place, tied with the Washington Senators, in the 10-team AL. The Twins were in the thick of it to the end of the 1967 season, finishing 91-71, tied with the Detroit Tigers for second place – just one game behind the pennant winning Boston Red Sox.26

Carew had a successful debut game, and other than less-than-perfect fielding of a wicked grounder, he played capably at second base with nine chances, six putouts, and three assists. He went on to have an exceptional season. Carew made Griffith’s prognostication come true: He was the AL’s starting second baseman in the 1967 All-Star Game. He was also the AL Rookie of the Year, batting .292 with a 113 OPS+ over 137 games.27

With the Twins and the California Angels, Carew played in 19 big-league seasons and was an 18-time All-Star. He was the AL MVP in 1977, batting a career-high .388. Carew’s seven batting titles were the most in AL history besides Ty Cobb’s 12, and in 2016 the AL batting crown was renamed in his honor.28 Inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1991, his career stats include 3,053 hits, 353 stolen bases, a WAR of 81.2, a .328 average, and an .822 OPS.

Carew’s 2020 autobiography was appropriately titled One Tough Out. He was a tenacious survivor not only at the plate, but in life as well, dealing with persistent abuse from his father during his childhood in Panama. In 1996, he lost his 18-year-old daughter, Michelle, to leukemia after a desperate, unsuccessful search for a marrow donor. In September 2015, Carew had a massive heart attack that required a six-hour surgery. His prognosis was poor, but 15 months later at age 71, he received a heart transplant. The donor was 29-year-old former NFL tight end Konrad Reuland, who had died from a brain aneurysm. It was believed to be the first time a pro athlete received the heart of another pro athlete.29 Remarkably, when Reuland was an 11-year-old, he met Carew while the baseball star was picking up his daughter from school.30

Carew consistently rose to the occasion as both ballplayer and human being. Widely recognized for his community and charitable work, he won the Roberto Clemente Award in 1977. Because of Carew’s efforts on behalf of the National Marrow Donor Program, the organization named their lifetime achievement award after Carew.31

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Mike Huber and copy-edited by Keith Thursby. The author thanks John Fredland, Gary Belleville, and Kurt Blumenau for their assistance.

Sources and Photo Credits

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com, Retrosheet.org, and SABR.org for general player, team, and season data.

The Carew baseball card image was downloaded from the Trading Card Database.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BAL/BAL196704110.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1967/B04110BAL1967.htm

Notes

1 “Mary Schmich Quotes,” azquotes.com, accessed December 29, 2025, https://www.azquotes.com/author/22036-Mary_Schmich.

Schmich won a Pulitzer Prize in 2012 as a Chicago Tribune columnist.

2 In the ’66 Series, the Orioles held the Dodgers to a total of two runs. Three of the four games were shutouts.

3 In the 1965 Series, Minnesota lost to the Dodgers four games to three.

4 Lou Hatter, “Drabowsky Gains Win in Relief,” Baltimore Sun, April 12, 1967: C1.

This was the second largest Opening Day crowd to date at Memorial Stadium. The Orioles inaugural Opening Day in 1954 was attended by 46,354. On the morning of the 1967 opening game, Baltimore hosted a parade to honor the ’66 World Series champions. Frank Robinson and other Orioles rode in convertible cars in front of a cheering crowd. Associated Press Photo, “Orioles Open New Season Same Old Way,” Cumberland (Maryland) Evening Times, April 12, 1967: 33.

5 Tom Briere, “Martin Picks Twins Today – And for Flag,” Minneapolis Tribune, April 11, 1967: 21.

6 Carew played in rookie leagues during 1964. In 1965 he was with Orlando of the Florida League, and in 1966 he played for Wilson (NC) in the Carolina League. Despite not having played at the Double-A or Triple-A levels, he was invited to the Twins’ spring training in 1967. His spring training stats over 23 games with the big club included a .242 batting average with 16 hits (six for extra bases, including a homer), nine RBIs, 10 walks, and four stolen bases. “Twins Spring Statistics,” Minneapolis Tribune, April 11, 1967: 22.

7 Max Nichols, “Twins Collecting Benefits From Relaxed Rich’s Bat,” The Sporting News, April 29, 1967: 13.

8 Max Nichols, “Rookie Rod Carew Stakes Out Claim to Twin Keystone,” The Sporting News, March 25, 1967: 27.

9 McNally had a 14-year major league career, retiring with a 3.24 ERA. He was a three-time All-Star who pitched in four World Series for Baltimore (1966, ’69, ’70, and ’71). Kaat played in 25 big-league seasons, winning 16 Gold Glove Awards; he finished with a 3.45 ERA. The three-time All-Star pitched in the ‘65 World Series for Minnesota and the ‘82 Series for the St. Louis Cardinals.

10 J. Suter Kegg, “Can’t Beat Oriole Start for Thrills,” Cumberland (Maryland) Evening Times, April 12, 1967: 33.

11 Blefary, the 1965 AL Rookie of the Year, was not recognized for his glove or soft hands. His nickname was “Clank” for the sound balls made when they hit his mitt.

12 Associated Press, “Pitching, Defense Fatal to Twins in Baltimore Opener,” Mitchell (South Dakota) Daily Republic, April 12, 1967: 17.

13 Gordon Beard (Associated Press), “Birds Top Twins, 6-3, in Opener,” Hagerstown (Maryland) Daily Mail, April 12, 1967: 24.

14 The original call from umpire Jim Honochick was a foul off the knob of Blefary’s bat, but after Blefary showed the ump a bruise and cut on his hand, he was awarded first base. Beard, “Birds Top Twins, 6-3, in Opener.”

15 Frank Robinson was the AL MVP the previous season, while winning a Triple Crown with a .316 average, 49 home runs, and 122 RBIs.

16 Associated Press, “Pitching, Defense Fatal to Twins in Baltimore Opener.”

17 Beard, “Birds Top Twins, 6-3, in Opener.” It was 309 feet down the left-field line at Memorial Stadium.

18 Bill Hengen, “Starting Career With Hit Settles Carew’s Nerves,” Minneapolis Star, April 12, 1967: 65.

19 Tom Briere, “Orioles Topple Twins in Debut,” Minneapolis Tribune, April 12, 1967: 23.

20 In 1967, Killebrew led the majors in home runs (44) and walks (131). He came in second in AL MVP voting.

21 J. Suter Kegg, “Can’t Beat Oriole Start for Thrills.”

22 “How Orioles Beat Twins,” Minneapolis Star, April 12, 1967: 72.

23 Sid Hartman, “Carew Gets 2 Hits After Tip From Mele,” Minneapolis Tribune, April 12, 1967: 24.

24 Drabowsky threw three innings, surrendering two hits and a walk; he had no earned runs. Kaat pitched four innings while giving up four hits and one walk; he had four earned runs – all due to the first four Orioles batters he faced. Orioles starter McNally went 4⅔ innings and yielded seven hits, two walks and three earned runs.

25 Joe Gergen, “Robinson’s Bat, Great Relief Jobs Net 6-3 Win,” Cumberland (Maryland) Evening Times, (United Press International), April 12, 1967: 33. The ‘66 Orioles had a formidable offense. They were first in the AL in runs per game, hits, doubles, total bases, slugging percentage and OPS. They were also second in home runs, just four shy of the Detroit Tigers’ 179.

27 The NL Rookie of the Year in ’67 was right-handed pitcher Tom Seaver of the New York Mets. Seaver received 11 of 20 votes, while Carew got 19 of 20 of the AL votes. Coincidentally, on August 4, 1985, Carew got his 3,000th hit in Anaheim and Seaver earned his 300th win in New York.

28 Concurrently, the NL Batting Championship Award was named for another great hitter, Tony Gwynn. He had 20 years in the majors, all with the San Diego Padres, while winning eight NL batting crowns.

29 Gary Waleik, “MLB Legend Rod Carew and the Former NFL Pro Who Gave Him a New Heart,” WBUR – Boston / wbur.org, September 28, 2018, https://www.wbur.org/onlyagame/2018/09/28/rod-carew-konrad-reuland-heart-assists.

30 “Rod Carew,” BR Bullpen – baseballreference.com, accessed December 2, 2025, https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Rod_Carew. Carew also received a kidney from Reuland during the heart transplant operation. Reuland was a very sports-minded kid. At the time Carew and school-age Reuland met, Reuland’s favorite pro athlete was Carew. After the transplant, Carew did not know whose organs he had received and the Reuland family was unaware of who Konrad’s donated organs went to. Months later, they did find out, and the two families met. Reuland’s mother, Mary, was able to listen to her son’s heart beating in Carew’s chest. With the common bond of the organ donations, the Carew and Reuland families have become close. They live fairly close to one another.

31 “Rod Carew,” BR Bullpen – baseballreference.com. Carew has also done charitable work with youth in Southern California, with the American Heart Association, and he has hosted “Rod Carew’s Children’s Cancer Golf Classic” for decades. “Rod Carew: From Baseball Legend to Proud U.S. Citizen at 78,” americanosports.com, accessed January 7, 2026, https://www.americanosports.com/rod-carew-from-baseball-legend-to-proud-u-s-citizen-at-78/.

As if to prove Houk’s point, when the season opened seven weeks later, the Yankees downed the visiting California Angels, 1-0, in a pitchers’ duel. Mel Stottlemyre threw a four-hit shutout, with the game’s lone score coming on a home run by his batterymate, rookie Frank Fernández. The victory gave Yankees fans something to celebrate just days after one of the darkest moments in American history.

After collecting 29 American League crowns and 20 World Series titles between 1921 and 1964, the Yankees fell on hard times over the next three years. Second-division finishers in 1965 for the first time in 40 years, New York brought up the AL rear in 1966 and was only one place better in 1967. With a roster that averaged under 25 years of age, the team entered the 1968 season younger than they’d ever been.2 Outfielder-turned-first baseman Mickey Mantle was back for his 18th and final season, but gone from active duty were fellow warhorses Whitey Ford, now the Yankees’ first base coach, and Elston Howard, who’d been dealt to the Boston Red Sox.

The Yankees closed out their Fort Lauderdale training camp on the afternoon of April 4 with a win over the Washington Senators to bring their Grapefruit League record to 11-11-1.3 Their roster finalized the day before, they headed north in anticipation of an Opening Day clash with the Angels at Yankee Stadium.4

Shortly after 6 PM that evening, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, shot as he stood on a hotel balcony in Memphis, Tennessee. Devastated over Dr. King’s death, thousands of his supporters took to the streets. Over the next few days, violence rocked more than 125 cities, with 39 people killed and 3,500 injured, prompting the deployment of nearly 50,000 federal troops to urban areas.5

With the nation in turmoil, sports stood down. National League president Warren Giles announced that Cincinnati’s traditional major league opener would be postponed to April 10, the day after Dr. King’s funeral. AL officials also delayed the junior circuit’s openers—in Baltimore, Chicago, Detroit, New York, and Washington D.C.—to be held on April 10 as well.6

The Opening Day postponement bought time for the calming of both community and labor unrest in the Big Apple.7 A threatened strike by groundskeepers and maintenance staff at New York City’s two big-league ballparks (Yankee Stadium and Shea Stadium) was called off on April 8, after union members accepted a new contract.8

A crowd of 15,744, including Mrs. Babe Ruth—67-year-old Claire Ruth—was on hand for Opening Day in the House That Mr. Ruth Built, under fair skies and game-time temperatures forecast to be in the low 70s.9  Following a military color guard and the singing of the national anthem by Metropolitan Opera baritone Robert Merrill,10 a plaque was presented to Mantle commemorating his 500th home run, clubbed the previous May.11

For the ceremonial first pitch, the Yankees chose not a politician or former ballplayer, but 80-year-old poet Marianne Moore, a Pulitzer Prize winner and ardent baseball fan. After catching her toss from the stands, Fernández, “a handsome bachelor” six days shy of his 25th birthday, leaned over the railing and kissed Moore on the cheek.12 Leonard Koppett of the New York Times called the smooch “a Yankee Stadium first.” “I did it on the spur of the moment,” Fernández later admitted.13

On the mound for New York was Stottlemyre, a two-time All-Star and the Yankees’ undisputed ace, making his second consecutive Opening Day start. He opened the 1967 season with a two-hit shutout of the Senators, who like the Angels had joined the AL in 1961. Lifetime 8-3 against California entering the game, he was the Yankees hurler that Angels hitters least wanted to face.14

Opposite Stottlemyre was southpaw George Brunet, making his third consecutive Opening Day start for the Angels. Carrying a woeful career 4-10 record and 3.92 ERA against New York, Brunet had lost his last seven decisions in 1967 for the fifth-place Angels on the way to a major-league-leading 19 losses.

Stottlemyre’s day got off to a stumbling start when rookie third baseman Mike Ferraro airmailed a throw to first base on a ball hit by leadoff batter Paul Schaal. With Jim Fregosi batting, Schaal broke for second, but Fernández threw him out, maintaining his untarnished record at thwarting base stealers; he had gunned down three-time reigning AL stolen base champ Bert Campaneris in the only attempted stolen base against him during a callup the previous September.

A two-out single to center field by Don Mincher, sandwiched between called third strikes to Fregosi and off-season acquisition Chuck Hinton,15 proved to be the Angels’ last hit until the seventh inning. In between, Stottlemyre retired 18 consecutive batters: five via strikeout, six on the ground and seven in the air.

Brunet worked around Mantle’s single in the first but wasn’t so lucky in the second. With two out, the bases empty and two strikes on Fernández, he threw a high-and-inside fastball that the Yankees’ backstop deposited into the left-field bleachers.16

“I thought it was gone,” the former Staten Island high school star said of his second career home run.17 “But when I saw Whitey waving at me to run, I wondered where it had gone. How sweet it was to see the ball in the seats.”18

Brunet retired the next Yankees batter, shortstop Gene Michael on an infield popup, then didn’t allow a baserunner for the next three innings.

With two out in the seventh, Hinton singled for California’s second hit of the game, but was left stranded when Rick Reichardt flied out to center field. Mantle led off the bottom of the frame with his second single of the game, but was thrown out by catcher Buck Rodgers as Bill Robinson struck out on a botched hit-and-run play that ended the inning.19

Former Yankee Roger Repoz singled to lead off the Angels’ eighth but had to stay put when Rodgers popped up on a sacrifice attempt. Coach Bob Lemon, filling in for manager Bill Rigney while he was recovering from the flu, then sent up left-handed pinch hitter Jay Johnstone.20

After throwing his first pitch, Stottlemyre stepped off the mound to moisten his fingers. First base umpire Al Salerno, enforcing a rule recently introduced to eliminate spitballs, ruled that Stottlemyre had failed to reach the infield grass before going to his mouth and gave Johnstone an “automatic ball.”21 Insistent that Stottlemyre had done nothing wrong, Houk protested the game. Momentarily flustered, Stottlemyre threw two more pitches out of the strike zone before retiring Johnstone and a second lefty pinch-hitter that followed him, Jimmie Hall.22

Brunet was done for the day, giving way to rookie southpaw Tom Burgmeier for his major-league debut.23 Burgmeier retired the side in order on three groundouts to send the game into the ninth.

Stottlemyre retired Schaal on a popup to short, then watched as Fregosi mashed a changeup into the left-field corner for a double.24 Undaunted, Stottlemyre threw another to Mincher, who bounced it to second baseman Horace Clarke for an easy out, with Fregosi moving to third. Next up was Hinton, who had seven hits in his last 12 at-bats against Stottlemyre. Number 13 proved unlucky for the Angels’ cleanup hitter as he grounded out to Michael at short, ending the game 1 hour and 43 minutes after it began.25

With his 95-pitch effort (including the automatic ball),26 Stottlemyre became the first hurler in franchise history to toss back-to-back Opening Day shutouts.27 “He’s the best pitcher in the major leagues,” said Brunet of Stottlemyre afterwards.28 Satisfied with what his troops had accomplished, Houk “just purred.” Wrote Newsday’s Steve Jacobson, “Opening day was a kiss to build a dream on.”29

The quick game allowed the Angels to reach LaGuardia Airport early for a chartered flight to Cleveland, but not without some excitement. After everyone had boarded the plane, a mobile generator powering the engines caught fire, forcing a chaotic evacuation. Two hours later they were off, in another plane.30

Proving that Houk’s preseason assessment was spot on, the Yankees ended the season with the lowest team batting average in the majors (.214) yet finished 83-79 and in fifth place. Stottlemyre registered a career-high 21 wins, six shutouts, the lowest qualifying ERA of his career (2.45), and his third All-Star selection. The balance of the season was largely sour for Fernández, who lost significant playing time to repeated Army Reserve obligations and a .170 batting average. Brunet finished the season 13-17 for eighth-place California and became the last AL pitcher (through 2025) to lead the league in losses in successive years.

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Madison McEntire and copy-edited by Mike Eisenbath.

Sources

In addition to the Sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted his SABR Biography of Frank Fernández as well as the Baseball-Reference.com, Retrosheet.org and Stathead.com websites, including box scores and play-by-play at these links:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYA/NYA196804100.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1968/B04100NYA1968.htm

Notes

1 Gene Ward, “Ralph Still Counting His Yankee Blessings,” New York Daily News, February 20, 1968: 83.

2 Jim Ogle, “Yank Age Averages Mere 24.87, But Vet Monbo Vows to Stay,” The Sporting News, March 9, 1968: 23. Average age was based on the 47-man roster that the team carried in early March.

3 Joe Trimble, “Yanks Bolt Fla. On 8-2 Win,” New York Daily News, April 5, 1968: 101.

4 “Yanks Ship Barber, Hegan to Syracuse,” New York Daily News, April 4, 1968: 81.

5 “Mourning the Death of Martin Luther King Jr,” National Museum of African American History and Culture, https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/mourning-death-martin-luther-king-jr, accessed December 24, 2025.

6 “Sports Almost At Standstill For 3 Days,” Cincinnati Enquirer, April 7, 1968: 1-E.

7 Officially, the Yankees’ April 8 game was rescheduled to August 26 as the first game of a doubleheader.

8 Joe O’Day, “Stadium Workers Accept Contracts,” New York Daily News, April 9, 1968: 67.

9 Leonard Koppett, “Yankees Beat Angels, 1-0, on Homer by Fernández in Season Opener Here,” New York Times, April 11, 1968: 54.

10 Merrill’s rendition can be heard at “Baseball,” Robert Merrill, https://www.robertmerrill.org/baseball, accessed December 26, 2025.

11 Joe Trimble, “Stot to Pitch Yanks’ 45th Stadium Opener,” New York Daily News, April 10, 1968: 89. The plaque was later installed on a pillar in right field near where the milestone home run landed.

12 Koppett, “Yankees Beat Angels, 1-0, on Homer by Fernández in Season Opener Here.” Fernández was mistakenly thought to be approaching his 24th birthday in the New York Times game summary.

13 “Yankees Beat Angels, 1-0, on Homer by Fernández in Season Opener Here.” Koppett suggested that the  inspiration for Fernández’s kiss may have been Jill Spavin, Miss World Airline Stewardess of 1968, who was sitting nearby.

14 Stottlemyre over his 11-year career dominated the Angels like no other team, registering career best marks against them in winning percentage (.826, from a 19-4 record), ERA (1.49), WHIP (1.000) and strikeouts-per-walk (2.24). He also surrendered only three home runs to Angels batters over 218 innings. Between 1961 and 2025, no pitcher who has thrown at least 200 innings against a major league team has a lower HR/IP ratio (0.01376). Next closest is Jim Maloney who allowed the Houston Astros three home runs in 217⅓ innings (0.01380).

15 The Angels acquired Hinton in November 1967 from the Cleveland Indians in exchange for José Cardenal.

16 “Yankees Kiss the Season Hello.”

17 Fernández’s first career home run came off 21-year-old Catfish Hunter of the Kansas City Athletics in the Yankees’ final game of the 1967 season.

18 Jim Ogle, “An Unlikely Yankee Hero: Catcher Frank Fernández,” The Sporting News, April 27, 1968: 20.

19 Joe Trimble, “Yanks Stot Right on Rookie’s HR, 1-0,” New York Daily News, April 11, 1968: 76.

20 Trimble, “Yanks Stot Right on Rookie’s HR, 1-0.”

21 “Yankees Kiss the Season Hello.”

22 “Yanks Stot Right on Rookie’s HR, 1-0.”

23 Manager Rigney spent the game in his hotel, leaving his coaches to run the game by committee. It’s unclear who made the decision to replace Brunet with Burgmeier. “Yankees Kiss the Season Hello.”

24 “Yanks Stot Right on Rookie’s HR, 1-0.”

25 In its game summary, the Long Beach (California) Press Telegram called the game the fastest of any road game in Angels history. Ross Newhan, “B-r-r-r … It’s Zero for Dodgers, Angels,” Long Beach (California) Press Telegram, April 11, 1968: C1.

26 “Yanks Stot Right on Rookie’s HR, 1-0.”

27 Stottlemyre also became New York’s first hurler since Jack Chesbro to earn back-to-back complete game victories in season-openers. Chesbro did so by defeating Casey Patten of the Washington Nationals in the 1905 opener and Cy Young of the Boston Americans in 1906.

28 “Yankees Kiss the Season Hello.”

29 Steve Jacobson, “Yankees Kiss the Season Hello,” Newsday (Melville, New York), April 11, 1968: 40A.

30 Newhan, “B-r-r-r … It’s Zero for Dodgers, Angels.”

The Phillies had played at Connie Mack Stadium since July 1938, sharing the field with the Philadelphia Athletics until the A’s moved to Kansas City in 1955. On October 1, 1970, three years after breaking ground on Veterans Stadium, the Phillies closed their run at the old ballpark with a win over the Montreal Expos before 31,822 fans.3

Fittingly, the same two clubs returned to inaugurate the new stadium the following spring. Phillies manager Frank Lucchesi, entering his second season at age 41, embraced the sense of renewal. “I just hope my dream comes true,” he said. “I was the last manager to win at the old park and I want to be the first manager to win at the new park.”4

The Phillies had opened the season with two losses to the Pittsburgh Pirates on the road, and Luchessi picked veteran Jim Bunning to start their home debut. The 39-year-old right-hander, now in his second stint with Philadelphia, had first been acquired from the Detroit Tigers in December 1963, and famously pitched the first perfect game in Phillies history on Father’s Day 1964.5 Back in Philadelphia in 1970, he threw the first pitch in Veterans Stadium a season later.

The Expos had split two games with the New York Mets to start their third season as an expansion team. They were led by former Phillies manager Gene Mauch, who had guided Philadelphia from 1960 to June 1968 before taking the managerial reigns in Montreal for the Expos’ inaugural year. Mauch was immediately impressed by the Phillies’ new facility. “Certainly the finest of all the new parks – it incorporates the best points of other stadiums and has added a few new ones of its own,” he said.6

After Phillies backup catcher Mike Ryan caught the ceremonial first pitch – dropped by a helicopter circling overhead – the game began at 2:21 PM. Bunning quickly retired leadoff man Boots Day on a come-backer. Ron Hunt walked with one out and stole second an out later but was stranded when cleanup hitter Bob Bailey flied to center. 

Bill Stoneman, a mainstay of the Expos’ staff since their inaugural season and author of a no-hitter against the Phillies on April 17, 1969,7 started for Montreal. He surrendered a leadoff single to Larry Bowa.

The 25-year-old shortstop, entering his second full season, was amped for the moment. “I was keyed up today. Really keyed up,” Bowa said. “Before I left home I told [my wife] ‘It would sure be great to get the first hit at Veterans Stadium.’”8 Bowa stole second but, like Hunt, was stranded when Deron Johnson flied out to right.

From the second through the fifth innings, Bunning and Stoneman settled into a pitchers’ duel. Bunning allowed two singles in the top of the second but escaped when former Phillies shortstop Bobby Wine grounded into a double play. Only one Expos batter reached base over the next three innings – Wine on a walk in the fifth.

Stoneman was just as sharp, giving up just three singles and a walk over the same span. Rookie right fielder Roger Freed collected one of the singles and the walk. Acquired from the Baltimore Orioles after winning the 1970 Triple-A International League Most Valuable Player award, Freed had been brought in to spark the Phillies lineup.9 “We were last in the league in runs scored last season and we had to improve our offense,” Phillies General Manager John Quinn said of the trade.10

Montreal finally broke through in the top of the sixth with a pair of well-placed doubles. Hunt legged out the first two-bagger when his high fly landed just inside the right field foul line. Bunning fanned lefty-swinging Rusty Staub, but with two out and Hunt running at the crack of the bat, Bailey punched a soft liner into shallow right that scored Hunt. 

Philadelphia answered in the bottom of the inning, scoring three runs and knocking Stoneman from the game. Leadoff batter Don Money, still seeking his first hit of the season, led off with a long home run into the left field seats. “It was a fastball inside, up around the letters,” Money said of his game-tying blast.11  

Twenty-three-year-old Willie Montañez, on the Phillies’ Opening Day roster after a September call-up in 1970, walked. Johnson singled to left and both advanced when left fielder Mack Jones bobbled the ball. Mauch then intentionally walked Johnny Briggs to load the bases for Freed, who grounded a single to left to score Montañez and give the Phillies a 2-1 lead.

Mauch summoned John O’Donoghue from the bullpen. Tim McCarver lifted a fly ball deep enough to center to score Johnson with the inning’s third run. Mike Marshall relieved O’Donoghue and pinch-hitter Tony Taylor grounded into a double play.

Bunning returned for the seventh, protecting a 3-1 lead. John Bateman led off with a single and pinch-hitter Jim Fairey hit a long drive to left. Briggs sprinted back and made a leaping catch just in front of the wall. “If he doesn’t make that catch, it could have changed the complexion of the game,” Lucchesi said of Briggs’ clutch play.12 Instead, Bunning escaped on a popup and groundout.

The Phillies added a run in the seventh off new reliever Claude Raymond. Bowa ripped a one-out triple into the right-center-field gap and scored on Money’s fly to center. Montañez and Johnson walked, prompting another pitching change, and Howie Reed retired Briggs on a grounder to short.

Bunning started the eighth but was pulled after allowing two of three batters to reach base. “I was getting a little stiff after that long inning,” Bunning said about the Phillies’ sixth. “I put some stuff on but I was stiffening up.”13 Joe Hoerner entered, walked Fairey to load the bases, then struck out Jones and Bateman to preserve the lead.

Reed pitched a scoreless eighth and Hoerner closed out Montreal in the ninth to secure the historic stadium-opening win for the Phillies, 4-1. Bunning earned the 220th win of his Hall of Fame career and the Phillies secured their first win of the season. 

Philadelphia finished 1971 in sixth place in the National League East Division with a 67-95 record, 30 games behind the eventual World Series champion Pirates. Montreal finished fifth in the NL East, five games ahead of Philadelphia.

Veterans Stadium served as the Phillies’ home park through the 2003 season. Over their 33 years there, the team recorded 1,415 victories, highlighted by winning their long-awaited first World Series title in 1980.

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Thomas J. Brown Jr. and copy-edited by Keith Thursby.

Photo credit: Jim Bunning, Trading Card Database.

Sources

 In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball Reference.com and Retrosheet.org for information including the box score and play-by-play.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/PHI/PHI197104100.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1971/B04100PHI1971.htm

Notes

1 Temperatures were in the low 40’s with winds ranging from 20 to 34 miles per hour.

2 Francis M Lordan, “Ground Broken For $38 Million Sports Stadium,” Philadelphia Inquirer, October 3, 1967: 1.

3 Ken Carrano, “October 1, 1970: Wrecking Ball for Connie Mack Stadium as Phillies Play Final Game,” https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/october-1-1970-wrecking-ball-for-connie-mack-stadium-as-phillies-play-final-game/. Accessed February 2026.

4 Frank Dolson, “Cold, Kinky, Practically Perfect,” Philadelphia Inquirer, April 11, 1971: 3-2.

5 Paul E Doutrich, “June 21, 1964: Jim Bunning is Perfect on Father’s Day,” https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/june-21-1964-jim-bunning-is-perfect-on-fathers-day/. Accessed February 2026.

6 Jack Lapos, “’Wish Comes True,’ Phils Triumph 4-1,” Allentown (Pennsylvania) Morning Call, April 11, 1971: C1.

7 Adam Ulrey, “April 17, 1969: Expos’ Bill Stoneman Sets Record for Fastest No-Hitter by MLB Team,” https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/april-17-1969-expos-bill-stoneman-sets-record-for-fastest-no-hitter-by-mlb-team/. Accessed February 2026.

8 Dolson, “Cold, Kinky, Practically Perfect.”

9 Philadelphia traded Grant Jackson, Jim Hutto and Sam Parrilla to Baltimore in exchange for Freed.

10 “Phillies Get Roger Freed In 4-Player Deal,” Philadelphia Inquirer, December 17, 1970: 36.

11 Allen Lewis, “55,352 Watch Phillies Win Stadium Opener, 4-1,” Philadelphia Inquirer, April 11, 1971: 3-1.

12 Lewis.

13 Lewis.

In retrospect, the tone for the season was set on its first day, April 20, in Charleston, West Virginia. Red Wings righthander Wayne Garland pitched an Opening Day no-hitter, humbling the Charleston Charlies 5-0. It was the first Opening Day no-no in the league’s long history.3

Garland, 23 years old, had passed up two previous draft selections – including one by the Charlies’ parent club, the Pittsburgh Pirates – before the Orioles chose him in the first round of the secondary phase of the June 1969 amateur draft.4 He rose through the Orioles’ system, going 10-11 with a 3.57 ERA for the Red Wings in 1973. One of those losses was a 6-2 Opening Day defeat by Charleston.5

Garland earned his first promotion to Baltimore in September 1973, when he appeared in four games. He then went to Venezuela to pitch winter ball, where his year began in tragedy. He was one of three players in the Orioles organization who was with 22-year-old pitcher Mark Weems when Weems drowned in the ocean on New Year’s Day 1974.6

Garland’s catcher for his second Opening Day crack at the Charlies was 26-year-old Jim Hutto. A Swiss Army knife in his 10th pro season, Hutto had played catcher, first base, third base, and both corner outfield positions in his only major-league season with the 1970 Philadelphia Phillies.7 Hutto had played for the Red Wings team that won the 1971 Governors’ Cup. He then spent parts of two seasons in the California Angels’ system before being traded back to the Orioles’ organization in June 1973.8

All nine of the Red Wings’ starters and seven of the Charlies’ starters reached the big leagues at some point. The most notable for Rochester was probably 23-year-old third baseman Doug DeCinces, whose 15-year major-league career included one All-Star team, a Silver Slugger Award, and a third-place finish in the 1982 American League Most Valuable Player vote.

The Charlies’ starters included two future major-league managers. Second baseman Tony La Russa, 29 years old, was playing out the string; he’d appeared in his final major-league game with the Chicago Cubs a season earlier. He went on to a 35-season big-league managing career in which he won 2,884 games, three World Series titles, and four Manager of the Year awards and earned election to the Hall of Fame. Starting at third was 27-year-old Art Howe, who broke into the majors with Pittsburgh later that season. Howe played in the majors for 11 seasons and managed there for 14, winning 1,129 games and two American League West Division titles with the Oakland Athletics.

Charleston’s starting pitcher was Jim McKee, a 6-foot-7 righty from Ohio who’d been the first player from Otterbein College (now University) to reach the majors.9 McKee was beginning his sixth and final pro campaign. He’d had chances with the Pirates the two previous seasons, going 1-1 with a 4.78 ERA in 17 appearances. In 1974, he finished with a 10-12 record and 3.61 ERA in 23 Triple-A games, all starts.

McKee’s wildness helped the Red Wings build a 2-0 lead in the top of the first in front of a disappointing crowd of 2,188. Rochester’s first hitters, shortstop Bob Bailor and center fielder Tom Shopay, walked. Neither swung at a pitch as McKee missed the strike zone with 10 of his first 11 offerings.10 Right fielder Steve Hovley singled to center field, scoring Bailor and sending Shopay to third. Three batters later, a groundout by first baseman Mike Fiore brought Shopay home.

Charlies first baseman Charles Howard, a 30-year-old in his 12th minor-league season, drew a walk off Garland to open the bottom of the second inning. This moment of offensive promise didn’t last long, as Garland retired the next 15 Charleston batters. The Charleston Sunday Gazette-Mail praised the pitcher’s “pinpoint control” and “quick-breaking slider.”

McKee started the third inning but didn’t get far into it. Hovley drew a walk and cleanup hitter DeCinces belted a pitch over the center-field fence, doubling Rochester’s advantage to 4-0. A double by Fiore chased McKee in favor of Dominican-born righty Juan Jiménez, who shut down the Red Wings’ offense with four innings of three-hit shutout pitching.

Howard was still the Charlies’ only baserunner when La Russa came to the plate to lead off the bottom of the seventh. On a checked swing, La Russa bounced a roller to DeCinces at third, who mishandled it and threw too late for the out. Official scorer Shorty Hardman ruled it an error. Center fielder Dave Augustine grounded into a double play to clear the basepaths.11

Up next, Howard drilled a long fly to center field, where Shopay got a glove on it but dropped it. (“I just nonchalanted a little too much and the ball popped out of my glove,” he said later.)12 Again, Hardman ruled the play an error. And again, the Charlies couldn’t do anything with it: Catcher Pete Koegel struck out to end the frame. After the game, Altobelli called Shopay’s drop “the only questionable ball” in terms of official scoring decisions. “[Hardman] did a hell of a job,” he added.

Veteran righty Daryl Patterson took over from Jiménez in the seventh, and the Red Wings tacked on one last unearned run in the eighth. La Russa threw away Fiore’s grounder for the Charlies’ only error.13 Patterson hit left fielder Curt Motton with a pitch, then gave up a line-drive single to right field by second baseman Rob Andrews that drove in Fiore for a 5-0 Rochester lead.

Charleston’s Ed Ott started the bottom of the inning by grounding to Andrews, who booted it for the Red Wings’ third error. A wild pitch by Garland allowed Ott to take second base, just the second time the Charlies had gotten a runner that far. But Garland retired the next three batters – including shortstop Mario Mendoza, who hit a borderline fair-or-foul roller that DeCinces decided to field. “I thought it was going foul, but it kicked back in fair,” DeCinces said afterward. “I knew he could run, so I just threw the ball as hard as I could and got him out. I would have looked kind of stupid if I let it roll and it hit the bag.”14

After a shutout inning by the Charlies’ Jim Sadowski in the top of the ninth, a streaker dashed across the field during the break.15 It didn’t faze Garland, who retired the last three batters – probably left fielder Bill Flowers, La Russa, and Augustine – to nail down his no-no.16 A Charleston newspaper called the game “convincing … untainted by wildness or solidly hit, line-drive outs.”17

After wrapping up the game in 2 hours and 7 minutes, Garland signed autographs for fans at Watt Powell Park, then faced reporters. “Jimmy Hutto deserves a lot of credit. Jimmy called a real good game,” he said. “I was surprised toward the end, though. Hutto asked me if I was getting tired, and I wasn’t.”18 Hutto acknowledged the consensus in the Red Wings’ clubhouse that Garland was headed for the majors: “We all know we’re going to lose him.”19

It didn’t happen immediately. Garland made six starts with the Wings and went 2-2 with a 5.40 ERA. The call to Baltimore finally came on May 26, when a death in the family forced Orioles reliever Don Hood to the bereavement list.20 Garland remained with the O’s the rest of the season; he posted a 5-5 record with a 2.97 ERA in 20 games, including six starts.

On July 15, he took a no-hitter into the ninth inning against the defending World Series-champion Oakland Athletics, but Oakland erupted for four hits and five runs to take the win.21 In his only postseason game, Garland also made a relief appearance against the Athletics in Game Two of the American League Championship Series on October 6.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Red Wings pushed on toward their title. The only blot on the season was the death, six days after Garland’s no-hitter, of Morrie Silver, a Rochester businessman who led a campaign to keep the Red Wings in the city in the mid-1950s and later served as their general manager.22 Rochester’s ballpark had been renamed for Silver in 1968; the Red Wings wore sleeve patches in his honor in 1974.23

Garland spent 1975 in the Baltimore bullpen, then broke through with a 20-win season in 1976 that made him one of baseball’s hottest free agents. Fed up with Orioles manager Earl Weaver, Garland signed a 10-year, $2.3-million contract with the Cleveland Indians, the third-biggest free-agent deal in major-league history at the time. Nagged by arm and shoulder injuries, including a torn rotator cuff, Garland won only 28 games across five seasons before retiring.24

Acknowledgments

This story was fact-checked by Gary Belleville and copy-edited by Mike Eisenbath.

Sources and photo credit

In addition to the specific sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org for general player, team and season data. Neither Baseball-Reference nor Retrosheet offers box scores for minor-league games, but the April 21, 1974, editions of the Charleston (West Virginia) Sunday Gazette-Mail and the Rochester (New York) Democrat and Chronicle printed box scores. Joseph Wancho’s SABR Biography Project article on Wayne Garland also served as a primary source.

Image of unnumbered 1973 Baltimore Orioles photocard of Wayne Garland downloaded from the Trading Card Database.

Notes

1 Rochester won the North Division with an 88-56 record, while Memphis won the South Division with an 87-55 record.

2 Baseball-Reference BR Bullpen, “Governors’ Cup,” accessed June 2025, https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Governors%27_Cup. Memphis was a Montreal Expos farm club, while Syracuse was affiliated with the New York Yankees.

3 Game stories in the Charleston and Rochester newspapers, cited later in these endnotes, differed on the length of the IL’s history: Charleston said 88 years, Rochester said 91. As of 2025, Minor League Baseball dated the IL’s founding to 1884, which would make the 1974 season the loop’s 91st. Rob Terranova, “Then and Now: International League,” MILB.com, posted March 17, 2022, https://www.milb.com/news/international-league-then-and-now.

4 Specifically, the Pirates chose Garland in the fifth round of the June 1968 draft out of high school in Nashville, Tennessee, while the St. Louis Cardinals chose him in the secondary phase of the first round of the January 1969 amateur draft out of Gulf Coast State College in Florida.

5 Jim Castor, “Wings Lose Opener,” Rochester (New York) Democrat and Chronicle, April 14, 1973: 1D.

6 The others were Bob Bailor and Don Hood. All four players had spent time with the Red Wings in 1973. Doug Brown, “Hood Finds Cards, Scoresheet in Apartment – No Weems,” Baltimore Sun, April 5, 1974: B9.

7 Hutto is listed in Baseball-Reference as appearing at every defensive position except center field and shortstop at least once over the course of a 12-season pro career. He was most often used at third base (440 games), catcher (374 games), and first base (249 games).

8 In return for Hutto, the Angels received Dave Leonhard.

9 As of June 2025, only three players from Otterbein had made the majors, and the two others enjoyed more success than McKee. Pitcher Kent Mercker played parts of 18 big-league seasons, winning a World Series ring in 1995. Outfielder Paul O’Neill appeared in 17 seasons, playing on five World Series-winning teams with the Cincinnati Reds and New York Yankees. “Otterbein University (Westerville, OH) Baseball Players,” Baseball-Reference, accessed June 2025, https://www.baseball-reference.com/schools/index.cgi?key_school=abcb754d.

10 Unless otherwise noted, all play-by-play action in this story is taken from A.L. Hardman, “Garland No-Hits Charlies in Opener,” Charleston (West Virginia) Sunday Gazette-Mail, April 21, 1974: 1C, and Larry Bump, “Wings’ Garland Pitches No-Hitter,” Rochester (New York) Democrat and Chronicle, April 21, 1974: 1D.

11 The Rochester game story says: “Garland started a double play to clear La Russa from the basepaths,” but it’s not clear whether Augustine grounded back to Garland, or whether Garland “started a double play” in the sense that he got Augustine to hit into one. The box scores in the Rochester and Charleston newspapers acknowledge that Rochester turned a double play, but do not include specifics on which fielders were involved.

12 Larry Bump, “Opposing Fans Hail Happy Hero,” Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, April 21, 1974: 1D.

13 Bump, in “Wings’ Garland Pitches No-Hitter,” specifies that La Russa’s error was throwing, not fielding.

14 Bump, “Opposing Fans Hail Happy Hero.”

15 Bump, “Opposing Fans Hail Happy Hero.”

16 Game accounts do not specify the final three hitters. However, we know that Ott reached on an error to start the eighth, and that Garland retired the next three batters, who were third baseman Art Howe, shortstop Mario Mendoza, and pinch-hitter Jim Campanis in the pitcher’s spot. That means the top of the order – Flowers, La Russa, and Augustine – would have been up in the ninth.

17 Mike Whiteford, “Wings’ Pitcher Deserving,” Charleston Sunday Gazette-Mail, April 21, 1974: 1C.

18 Bump, “Opposing Fans Hail Happy Hero.”

19 Whiteford, “Wings’ Pitcher Deserving.” Hutto got a call-up of his own in September 1975, appearing in four games with the Orioles as a catcher and pinch-hitter. It was his last big-league experience.

20 “Tragedy Forces Hood to Miss Start,” Baltimore Sun, May 27, 1974: C5.

21 Bob Ibach, “For Three Hours a No-Hitter … then Six Minutes of Catastrophe,” Baltimore Evening Sun, July 16, 1974: C5.

22 Jim Castor, “Silver: He Rescued the Red Wings,” Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, April 27, 1974: 1B.

23 News stories following Silver’s death said the Wings would wear black armbands, including Jim Castor, “Friends Say Last Good-Bye to Morrie,” Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, April 30, 1974: 1D. A review of photos of the 1974 Wings shows that their jerseys had identical stripes on both sleeves with no extra band visible, but that players wore a dark circular patch on their left sleeves. Representative photos showing the patch – and, in some cases, the sleeve stripes – can be seen in the following editions of the Democrat and Chronicle: May 28, 1974: 1D; August 9, 1974: 1D; August 30, 1974: 1A; and September 12, 1974: 1D. Meanwhile, two photos of Red Wings players on April 27, 1974: 1D show no arm patches, suggesting that the team was not wearing them before Silver’s death.

24 Joseph Wancho, “Wayne Garland,” SABR Biography Project, accessed June 2025, https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/wayne-garland/.

There were new owners.1 There were several new players.2 The payroll had shot up about $4.5 million – including the franchise’s first three $1 million-per-year players.3

So, naturally, there were heightened expectations for a club that never had won a division crown in the 17 years since the Washington Senators relocated to Arlington, Texas, for the 1972 season.

Yet, for all the changes, it became apparent on Opening Day that one thing remained the same – 41-year-old Charlie Hough’s knuckleball still had enough dip and dance to baffle major-league hitters.

Hough mixed in a fastball more than usual, but his trademark floater kept Detroit Tigers hitters off balance for all nine innings in the Rangers’ 4-0 win. He became the oldest pitcher in American League history to toss a shutout on Opening Day – much to the delight of a Tuesday night sellout crowd of 40,375 who crammed into Arlington Stadium on April 4.

“Hough had his best command tonight,” said Detroit’s Jack Morris, who took the loss in his 10th straight Opening Day start.4 “He stayed ahead of every hitter. Charlie was on, and when he gets that (knuckleball) dancing, it’s awfully hard to hit. … It’s the best I’ve ever seen him.”5

After former long-time Dallas Cowboys football coach Tom Landry fired a ceremonial first pitch,6 the attention turned to an expected pitcher’s duel between Hough and Morris, two of baseball’s winningest pitchers of the 1980s.7

Hough retired the first seven batters before Chet Lemon singled to right in the top of the third inning, and the 34-year-old right fielder showed that Detroit also planned to be a new-look team in 1989.

The Tigers’ Opening Day roster included eight new hitters,8 as Detroit tried to reclaim the top spot in the AL East Division after offensive struggles led to a tough late-season collapse in 1988.9 General manager Bill Lajoie hoped the reconstituted Tigers would be better suited to capitalize on opportunities on the basepaths.10 That included smart running from players like Lemon, a swift outfielder but notoriously low-percentage baserunner.

After Pat Sheridan struck out, Lemon swiped second on Hough’s one-ball pitch to leadoff man Ken Williams. That marked only Lemon’s second steal since August 23, 1986, and ultimately his lone stolen base of 1989. Lemon took third on a wild pitch but was stranded when rookie Torey Lovullo popped up to the catcher.

In the bottom of the inning, Buddy Bell struck out in his first at-bat with the Rangers since they traded the six-time Gold Glove winner to the Cincinnati Reds in 1985.11 Like the Tigers, Texas also had retooled its offense significantly for 1989. The Rangers even came into the new season with the motto, “It’s a whole new and improved ballgame,” after having led all AL teams with 1,022 batting strikeouts, hitting a league-low 112 home runs, and winning only 70 games.

It took a walk to Texas’ No. 9 hitter, Steve Buechele, to kick off the season’s first scoring rally.

Cecil Espy sent a 1-and-1 pitch into the left-field corner for a double, sending Buechele to third, and Scott Fletcher – who had tested free-agency, then returned to the Rangers on a three-year, $3.9 million contract – ripped a line drive that glanced off first baseman Lovullo’s glove and into the right-field corner for a two-run double. Lovullo, a fifth-round draft pick in 1987, quickly rose up the minor-league ranks and earned a roster spot after hitting .361 with three homers during spring training. But he never had played first base professionally until Opening Day.12

Hough found some trouble the second time through Detroit’s lineup, walking Lou Whitaker to lead off the fourth inning and surrendering a double to Alan Trammell, who was coming off back-to-back seasons as an All-Star, Silver Slugger, and top-10 finisher in MVP balloting.

But Hough, a crafty veteran in his 20th major-league season, wasn’t rattled.

Fred Lynn popped out to the catcher Geno Petralli, Matt Nokes struck out, and Chris Brown grounded to third to end the threat. Hough retired the next nine hitters in a row.

The Rangers added to their lead in the fifth. Buechele singled with one out, Espy walked, and new acquisition Rafael Palmeiro doubled, punctuating the 24-year-old’s AL debut.13 The highlights continued in the top of the sixth when Espy made a leaping catch at the wall on Whitaker’s deep fly to right-center.14

The 25-year-old Espy came into 1989 as the starting center fielder after the Rangers traded Oddibe McDowell and Bob Brower in the offseason.15

Espy had exhausted his rookie eligibility by his fourth major-league season, having had brief call-ups with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1983 (20 games) and Texas in 1987 (14 games) before earning regular time in 1988. As a rookie that year, Espy was primarily a backup outfielder but appeared at every position except pitcher and third base over 123 games.

The Rangers’ design for 1989 was to give Espy, a Chicago White Sox first-round draft choice of nine years earlier, the chance to prove himself as the primary leadoff batter and everyday center fielder.

“It was a great catch,” said fifth-year Texas manager Bobby Valentine of Espy’s grab. “He went up and timed it perfectly. … Sometimes you have to go two or three months before getting a chance to make a catch like that. To do it on opening night before a big crowd is a good feeling.”16

In the seventh, the Rangers got another boost. Bell made his homecoming memorable by punching a 3-and-2 pitch into center for his 2,500th career hit. He took second on a wild pitch, advanced to third on a groundout, and scored on a single from Fletcher, who never had driven in a run in any of his five previous Opening Day appearances.

“Scooter is a good player – there’s no doubt in my mind about that,” Valentine said of the 30-year-old Fletcher. “There’s not a pitcher in this league who takes him lightly when he’s at the plate.”17

Detroit made a last-ditch effort to get at Hough with a two-out rally in the ninth. Whitaker flied out to right and Trammell grounded to short before Lynn and Nokes each singled. But Brown, who had doubled off Hough in the 1986 All-Star Game as a member of the San Francisco Giants, struck out on three knuckleballs to give the Rangers their third Opening Day win in four years and Hough his third career season-opening triumph.18 It was the Tigers’ first season-opening shutout loss since a 10-0 defeat at the hands of Jim Palmer and the Baltimore Orioles in 1975.

At 41 years, 89 days old, Hough became the oldest pitcher in AL history to throw an Opening Day shutout.19 The record had been held by Lefty Grove, who was 40 years, 41 days old when he led the Boston Red Sox over the Washington Nationals on April 16, 1940.20 Going into the 2026 season, Hough’s record still stands.

Despite strong box score totals, Hough didn’t feel like he had his best mechanics. He threw roughly 20 fastballs among his 128 pitches, a high number for him,21 because his “old knuckler” was coming and going throughout the night.22

“I didn’t have the great knuckler,” Hough said. “When it was bad, though, it was so far off that they couldn’t hit it.”23

Texas had its first Opening Day shutout since 1980, when three pitchers combined to beat the New York Yankees, 1-0, in 12 innings.24 The Rangers swept the two-game series against the Tigers two days later with a 5-4 win in free-agent-signing Nolan Ryan’s debut in Arlington. Texas dashed out to a 10-1 start and was 17-5 by the end of April. A tough May (10-17) sent the Rangers out of the division lead, and they went 56-57 the rest of the season to finish fourth in the standings at 83-79.

Hough later faced shoulder soreness and had a stint on the disabled list in July but still notched double-digit wins for the eighth straight season with a 10-13 record. He spent one more season with the Rangers in 1990, finishing his 10½-year tenure in Arlington with 139 wins, 98 complete games, and 1,452 strikeouts – all franchise records that remain intact going into the 2026 season.

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Troy Olszewski and copy-edited by Mike Eisenbath.

Photo credit: Charlie Hough, Trading Card Database.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted the Baseball-Reference.com, Stathead.com, and Retrosheet.org websites for pertinent statistics and the box scores. He also used information obtained from the Houston Chronicle, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, and Detroit Free Press.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/TEX/TEX198904040.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1989/B04040TEX1989.htm

Notes

1 Future U.S. President George W. Bush and Dallas-area businessman Edward “Rusty” Rose led an investment group that purchased the Rangers from oil tycoon Eddie Chiles. The sale was finalized on April 21, 1989.

2 Notable additions to the Rangers included Nolan Ryan, Jamie Moyer, Cecilio Guante, Julio Franco, Rafael Palmeiro, and Buddy Bell.

3 Tony DeMarco, “Rangers’ Payroll Up, But It’s Still Comparatively Low,” Fort Worth Star-Telegram, April 4, 1989: 3-5.

4 Going into the game, Morris trailed only Tom Seaver (12 from 1968 to 1979), Robin Roberts (12 from 1950 to 1961), Walter Johnson (10 from 1912 to 1921), and Steve Carlton (10 from 1977 to 1986) among all-time leaders in consecutive Opening Day starts since 1901. Morris eventually made 14 consecutive season-opening starts from 1980 to 1993.

5 Associated Press, “New-Look Rangers Still Have Hough’s Old Familiar Magic,” Sioux City (Iowa) Journal, April 6, 1989: B5.

6 Landry had been fired abruptly on February 25 on the first day of new Cowboys owner Jerry Jones’ tenure, ending a 29-year coaching career in Dallas.

7 Coming into the game, Morris had a major-league best 156 wins since 1980, while Hough was tied with Fernando Valenzuela for fourth with 118 victories. By season’s end, Morris led the decade with 162 wins, while Hough and Valenzuela stayed tied for fourth with 128.

8 Offensive additions were Fred Lynn, Keith Moreland, Al Pedrique, Ken Williams, Chris Brown, Torey Lovullo, Billy Bean, and Mike Brumley.

9 The Tigers were in first place on September 1 but lost 12 of their next 14 games to fall 5½ games off the pace. They rebounded within a game of a division title by season’s end. They couldn’t recapture that success in 1989, however, finishing with a 59-103 record, then the third-worst mark in franchise history.

10 Vern Plagenhoef, “Tigers Swap Three Players for Speed and Youth,” Saginaw (Michigan) News, March 24, 1989: D1.

11 Bell had been with the Rangers since 1979. In the July 19 trade with the Reds, Texas acquired outfielder Duane Walker and minor-league pitcher Jeff Russell, who was an All-Star starter for the Rangers in 1988 and served as their closer from 1989 to 1992 and again in 1995.

12 As he climbed the minor-league ladder, Lovullo played only second or third base. He enjoyed a cup of coffee with the Tigers in 1988, and that experience is why the Tigers invited him to spring training in the first place. Throughout the spring, the 23-year-old switch-hitter was Detroit’s best hitter, and manager Sparky Anderson saw a way to get him on the field by giving him reps at first base and eventually naming him the starting first baseman against right-handed pitchers. The experiment didn’t last, however, as Lovullo went 0-for-20 in his first six games and was sent back to the minors after hitting only .115 by May 13. John Lowe, “Lovullo’s on First for Tigers Vs. Right-Handed Pitchers,” Detroit Free Press, March 28, 1989: 1D.

13 The Rangers acquired Palmeiro, an All-Star in 1988, from the Cubs as part of a nine-player trade on December 5, 1988.

14 John Lowe, “Texas Blanks Tigers in Debut,” Detroit Free Press, April 5, 1989: 1F.

15 The Rangers sent McDowell, Pete O’Brien, and Jerry Browne to the Cleveland Indians in exchange for Julio Franco, while Brower was sent to the New York Yankees for Bob Meachem, though he never appeared for the Rangers.

16 T.R. Sullivan, “Defensive Gem Proves Espy Really Catching on in Center Field,” Fort Worth Star-Telegram, April 5, 1989: 3-5.

17 Tony DeMarco, “Hough Shuts Out Tigers,” Fort Worth Star-Telegram,” April 5, 1989: 3-1.

18 Bill Sullivan, “Hough Causes Tigers to Knuckle Under,” Houston Chronicle, April 5, 1989: 6C.

19 The oldest pitcher since 1901 to fire an Opening Day shutout is Rip Sewell, who did so at 41 years, 343 days old for the 1949 Pittsburgh Pirates.

20 Grove surrendered only two hits in that 1-0 victory, which doubled as the last of his 35 career shutouts.

21 The Houston Chronicle reported he threw 17 fastballs, while the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported he threw 18. Reports did agree, however, that Hough induced seven outs with his fastball. Bill Sullivan, “Hough Causes Tigers to Knuckle Under,” Houston Chronicle, April 5, 1989: 6; and DeMarco, “Hough Shuts Out Tigers.”

22 Associated Press, “New-Look Rangers Still Have Hough’s Old Familiar Magic.”

23 Bill Sullivan, “Hough Causes Tigers to Knuckle Under.”

24 Jon Matlack, Jim Kern, and Sparky Lyle combined for the shutout. The victory came on Mickey Rivers’ solo home run in the 12th inning. Texas wouldn’t have another Opening Day shutout until 2020, when four pitchers combined to blank the Colorado Rockies 4-0 on July 24.